Name: The Soft Struggles
Brand: David Brewis

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

ADD1-005LPX

Colour

Pink

Colour details

Dusk Pink

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: Yes

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Shared Exclusive with Label

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-02-24

Signed copies

Signed copies: Yes

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

5056340105733

Total Cap

1 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Pink / Rough Trade Exclusive: Yes

ADD1-005LP

Black

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format: No

Signed copies: No

5056340105191

Black LP

ADD1-005CD

5056340105177

1 / CD

Artist

David Brewis

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Daylight Saving Records

David Brewis is a talented artist known for his work as a member of the Kane Gang and his involvement in production and guitar work on various releases from the Kitchenware Records label in the mid 1980s. With a strong presence in the music industry, David's contributions have left a lasting impact on the Newcastle music scene.
During his time with the Kane Gang, David showcased his musical abilities and helped shape their unique sound. Additionally, he played a crucial role in producing and adding guitar elements to numerous tracks released by Kitchenware Records, further solidifying his reputation as an influential figure within the industry.
Please note that David Brewis should not be confused with another individual who shares the same name but is affiliated with different projects.

Vinyl variants, bonus material and signed editions exclusively available from Rough Trade.

Back In Stock

David Brewis of the band Field Music releases his debut solo record The Soft Struggles. After three albums as School of Language, David Brewis’s next contribution to the ever-expanding Field Music universe is this jazz-inflected acoustic record. It is also be the second album release on Field Music’s newly formed Daylight Saving Records label, intended as the home for the Brewis brothers’ extra-curricular projects.

The Soft Struggles veers away from Field Music’s eclectic palette and instead leans into the luminous spontaneity of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and the breathy, string-laden chamber pop of Colin Blunstone’s One Year. Several of the tracks were built around a single day of live recording at Field Music’s studio in Sunderland, with David’s brother Peter on drums, Sarah Hayes (Admiral Fallow, You Tell Me) on piano and flute and Faye MacCalman (Archipelago) on clarinet and saxophone.

“There’s something a bit magical about a bunch of musicians together in a room being thrown in at the deep end,” says David,&nbsp; “So many of my favourite records were made quickly by musicians sitting a few feet from each other, playing songs they’d never even heard before the session began. That’s what I tried to do with this album. A chord sheet, a set of lyrics, a brief chat about tempo and then, okay comrades, see you at the other side.”

The soft struggles of the songs themselves touch on weariness and loss, disappointments allayed or accepted, anxieties overcome or temporarily elbowed aside, sometimes grasping for romantic, or parental, wisdom, and when wisdom isn’t quite in reach, there are songs of consolation and wry hopefulness.

The album also features contributions from singer Eve Cole, trombones by David Smith and Craig Hissett, saxophones on The Last Day by Pete Fraser, and strings courtesy of regular Field Music collaborators Ed Cross, Jo Montgomery, Chrissie Slater and Ele Leckie.

The Soft Struggles

Music GB

Discover The Soft Struggles by David Brewis. Limited edition CD and LP formats available. Rough Trade exclusive with signed copies. Released on Daylight Saving Records. A jazz-inflected acoustic record from the Field Music member.