On ‘Guessing at Animals’, the lead single from forthcoming album ‘This is Just A Place’, we find Field Guides’ king pin, Benedict Kupstas experiencing infatuation for the first time following the dissolution of a long-term relationship. “The night I met her / I was feeling kind of rough”, he sings, her presence lifting him from his post-relationship slump. Framed by a splendorous guitar and a luxuriant trumpet, the filmic drama of Kupstas and his new love interest, played by vocalist Jamie Reeder, unravels. Hollywood scriptwriters would look enviously at the game of tic-tac-toe they play on the station platform, before Kupstas has to get off, singing “This is the first song not about you” triumphantly on his walk home. The track concludes with a glorious back-and-forth between Kupstas and Reeder, “Hey Benny boy are you ready? / I’m not sure, not just yet / Can this go on a little more?” That last question, “Can this go on a little more?”, parroted by the song’s listeners, so reluctant are we for the golden shimmer of Kupstas’ new love to fade.
This is Just A Place is out September 27th on Whatever’s Clever