Field Music is the project of Brewis brothers, Peter and David, both multi-instrumentalists and terrific songwriters with a somewhat idiosyncratic style that combines the best bits of the classic 70s music into a fascinating kind of pop that is simultaneously both too conventional and too oddball for the masses. Their music is a little bit of a cross between XTC and Sparks: it has strong melodies, a lot of wit and humor, a big sound that occasionally drifts into chamber pop, and so on ... while at the same time they regularly throw sudden shifts, odd times, and an angular instrumentation into the mix as well. Plus they bring in some '80s jazz inspired jangly pop (think Prefab Sprouts or Aztec Camera) as an extra and the result is a lovely, gentle mixture that they have been successful at replicating album after album since their beginning in 2004.
School of Language, XTC, Gruff Rhys, Wild Beasts
David Brewis puts his solo work out under the name School of Language.