Northern Picture Library's short lifespan and attendant small discography have led to the band being considered the poor stepchild of the
Robert Wratten and associates family tree. It's an unfair judgment, though, since in ways
Wratten and his then bandmates
Annemari Davies and
Mark Dobson, all having stuck together following the winding-up of
the Field Mice, perhaps were at their most creative musically here.
The Field Mice themselves had never hidden their many sources of inspiration, but it was on
Alaska that, arguably, sound was just as important as lyrics, with many numbers being instrumentals or wordless compositions (such as the opening
"Untitled No. 1," consisting solely of
a cappella vocals from
Davies). In combining that album with the
Love Song for the Dead Che single -- itself reflecting another touchstone, with two separate covers of the
United States of America cult classic --
LTM not only provides the perfect coda to its
Field Mice reissue work but brings the album back to a new prominence. The sense throughout
Alaska is one of movement and texture -- like being caught in a gentle wind or on an open but quiet train car, given the subtle wash and flow of textures in songs like
"Catholic Easter Colours" and
"LSD Icing." Echoes of everyone from
shoegaze contemporaries to
the Orb to past collaborators
Saint Etienne can be heard throughout, but the gentle
pop rush core at the heart of
Wratten's work remains constant, whether expressed through acoustic guitar or keyboards. About the only things that the reissue misses are the other single tracks later collected on
Still Life. Perhaps the relative lack of words for
Field Mice fans to latch onto immediately resulted in
NPL's critical reception in many quarters, but whatever the reason, hopefully now the band can be appreciated for what it is. ~ Ned Raggett
![Theodore & Friends [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5013929773226_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Theodore & Friends [Expanded Edition]")
