John Larson and The Silver Fields: Constellation Prize

With the inclusion of keyboards player Mark Grimm Providence, Rhode Island power pop band John Larson and The Silver Fields have grown into a quintet and it shows on their new album Constellation Prize. The twin guitars are still the dominant, but now John Larson and David Richardson have an extra player to take care of the textures and fills. With drummer Jen MacPherson channeling her inner Ringo Starr and John Simpson fluid bass lines, the band locks into a groove for a set of catchy, upbeat songs.

Constellation Prize is a journey into the past musically, that could be mistaken for a long lost late Sixties / early Seventies classic. There are plenty of nods to acts like Roy Orbison, the Raspberries, the Shadows and of course Big Star. John Larson and The Silver Field are an act that celebrates superb melody as they sing about life's good and bad experiences, falling down and getting up again. Looking back, they have plenty to be proud of, fully confident that is OK to fuck up every now and then.

John Larson and The Silver Fields: The Great Pause

Power pop is alive and well, but fans of the genre may have to look a bit harder to find it. John Larson and The Silver Fields are a damn fine example of a band where guitars and melodies are cherished. On their third album The Great Pause the Providence, Rhode Island based quartet serve up a full course meal with crime, loneliness, love and hate as the main ingredients. The band's songwriter John Larson delivers his words with a slightly nasal voice, which only enhances the urgency of the material - being totally at ease could have taken away the anger of I Don't Want to Hear Their Names Anymore and the passive aggressiveness of Told Ya.

With a couple of guest players helping them out - Kelly O'Donohe's horns on the fast rocker Are You Willing to Move? are something else - John Larson and The Silver Fields were able to branch out their sound, but it is always the core band that takes care of business. Some of the licks will sound familiar, but the sheer joy of them playing so well is hard to resist.