Some disjointed notes while listening:
This one starts not with humming but with aah-ing. Heh.
What we’ve got here is what I would call, (and not in a disparaging fashion), pleasant pop.
Most of the album is propelled by medium-tempo acoustic strumming, backed up by lilting electric guitars, straightforward drumming and a bass tone that’s hard to pin down precisely, but a bit on the rubbery, short-sustain side. Maybe a Rickenbacker? Anyway.
This is solid rock-pop, graced with soft-attack, reverbed vocalizing that primarily hearkens to the croony end of the flowchart, something in an airy David Bowie range, perhaps.
"Bag of Hope" starts rather like that George Harrison "hari hari" song ("My Sweet Lord") that got him into hot water for sounding like "He’s So Fine," though the melody isn’t even vaguely similar.
There’s nothing in the groundbreaking realm on The Humming Field, but plenty of non-boring listening for pop fans that borrows from all sorts of things, most especially the Beatles. This one’s a particularly good fit with that part of the Northampton music-making world that loves to pop. It’s also, IMHO, much better than many a recent entry in the Northampton pop catalog at sustaining your interest for 12 tunes.
Kudos for ending in sugary sweet abandon, complete with clarinet (played by Jim Armenti).
Your thoughts?
