Christopher Porterfield

The Emotive, Provocative Music of Field Report

Artist Focus, Live Shows, Music and Healing, Poignant Songs, TS10

 

I’m spending some time with Field Report’s new album, Marigolden, this morning. This is a new relationship and I’m just becoming acquainted with the album, but I think we’re going to be good friends. It is rich, full, provocative, and emotive. And Christopher Porterfield’s odd analogies and word pictures are ever present.

I will never forget the first time I heard Field Report. In February of 2013, Kalispell, Shane Leonard’s project, was set to play a backstage concert at the State Theater here in Eau Claire. I was super excited about this show, as Shane’s music and friendship has played a central role in the beginning of my personal passion for and investment in locally-rooted music. As the day of the concert approached, Field Report was added to the show as the headliner. I was actually pretty disappointed. I didn’t know who they were and I wanted Shane to have the longest set that night. Thankfully, I was in for a very pleasant surprise that night.

From the time Porterfield and the rest of the band took the stage, they owned it. And, it wasn’t about showmanship. It was about the honesty and vulnerability of their music. As my wife said after the show, Porterfield has a lot to say, and he has no problem saying it. And these things he has to say are filled with passion, pain, suffering, and emotion. He also has a creative and descriptive way of saying them. The first time I heard him sing “pound that pussy (as in, “full of puss,” to be clear), bloody cyst off with a weather-treated two by four”(parentheses mine), that image grabbed a spot in my brain and it’s still there. I’m not sure why that 2X4 has to be weather-treated, or why it is the best prescription for that nasty cyst. However, that imagery has obviously stuck with me, even impacted me.

Those lyrics are from Chico the American, from Field Report’s debut, self-titled album, which is featured on this week’s TS10. After hearing them play at the State that night, I began listening to that album non-stop. It is home to so many poignant songs. Some are quite painful just to listen to… Porterfield’s lyrics are transparently honest and vulnerable. He has no problem baring his shortcomings for the listener, letting us in to his complex emotional world. That kind of vulnerability is, in my mind, Field Report’s biggest draw. I have been challenged, provoked, and saddened by what he has to share.

As much as I have fallen in love with that first record and songs like Fergus Falls, I Am Not Waiting Anymore, Taking Alcatraz, and Chico the American, I am really excited about the new album, Marigolden. As I listen this morning, I am again drawn into the gritty vulnerability. The lyrics and musical moods are still emotive, still painful, still brutally honest. Porterfield’s creative word and image choices are still there. And yet, it feels like there is a musical progression from the Field Report album. The music feels a little richer, deeper. While I  cannot comment on the technical reasons why this may be, I can definitively say that the band seems to have brought something of themselves to this album that wasn’t there on the first one. I am eager to become better acquainted with what lies in Marigolden.

The future seems to be very bright for Field Report. Marigolden has been met with much critical acclaim. They already have a national following that is continually growing. Just this morning, the band announced that they will be touring with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy in Europe beginning in January, which is no small thing.

As their popularity grows, the likelihood of them playing small, local venues continues to ebb. That’s why YOU should get out and see them this Friday night at House of Rock. Aero Flynn and another band (TBD) will be supporting them. The show starts at 9:30 and is only $10 in advance. You can purchase tickets here. If you can make it out, you will NOT regret it!

 

Field Report’s "Taking Alcatraz"… To Simply Exist or to Truly Live?

Poignant Songs
Christopher PorterfieldChristopher Porterfield is a gifted storyteller, weaving grit with vibrant imagery throughout Field Report’s self-titled album. My favorite song on that record is “Taking Alcatraz.” Now, to be honest, I’m not quite sure what the song is really all about. It feels, however, like there is the consistent element of a desire to cause a little trouble, to take a risk. The first verse refers to a potential effort to conquer Alcatraz. The second verse describes the singer’s desire to tick off some bikers and “see what happens then.”
While all of this trouble-making talk is fun, it’s the bridge and the chorus that really speaks to me.
And if we die here, at least we’ll make the choice
 and if we’re fine here, we can tell the boys
that a line in the sand don’t matter if you don’t care;
that a bird in the hand is worthless if you’re too scared.
“…if we die here, at least we’ll make the choice…” There is something in this sentiment that speaks deeply to me. It’s better to die than to not really live in the first place… to play it safe and not take a risk. I love this. It feels like I experience, time and again, these crossroads moments in life in which I have to choose the safe, known path or the unknown path that leads to deeper fulfillment, to a fuller life. Yes, the choice of the unknown involves risk. Yeah, it can be scary. But, the alternative is to stay stuck, stay safe, and never experience all that life can be.
“…and if we’re fine here, we can tell the boys that…” After the risk is taken, after the fear is faced, a testimony is born. Now, the person taking the risk can help others see the value in taking a risk, in living dangerously from time to time.
And then there are my favorite two lines in the song… “a line in the sand don’t matter, if you don’t care… a bird in the hand is worthless if you’re too scared.” There is deep, deep truth here for the listener. Daily life involves choices. Each choice is an opportunity to be fully engaged in life or to find a way to isolate and disengage emotionally. Many choices will involve a safe option and a risky option. Not caring and being too scared are choices that lead to death, honestly. There is no real life in those two choices. Full life comes from caring deeply and taking risks.
I don’t know if Porterfield waxed philosophic like this when he was writing “Taking Alcatraz.” I do know, however, that the lyrics stir me up. They encourage me. They resonate with my desire to live big, to take risks, to not settle for less than the full life I was built to live.