Field Guide
December 10 at 7:30 pm
As per government regulations all patrons, volunteers, artists, and staff will be required to wear an approved mask and provide either proof of COVID 19 vaccination or a negative COVID test. More information is available here.
Doors open 7:30 pm.
Music starts 8:30 pm.
Tickets: $25 at Pharmasave or online at eventbrite.com
This concert is generously sponsored by
Rittinger’s Men’s Wear
Field Guide Makes Debut at Blenders
Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Field Guide is the soft rock brainchild of singer-songwriter Dylan MacDonald. MacDonald’s songwriting doesn’t leave you questioning what’s on his mind. It’s music formed from late night, love fuelled nostalgia, seen through rose-coloured lenses. No Stranger to the road, he has toured extensively since high school both as a guitarist for artists like Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and with his previous band The Middle Coast.
Full Time (2019), his debut solo effort, is a beautifully hushed quartet of thoughtfully written, warmly delivered songs of heartbreak, loss, and leaving. Artists trading in confessional acoustic intimacy are pretty easy to come by but what sets Field Guide apart from the crowd is the lyrical quality and the careful, understated execution in what they do. Rather than wallowing in regret, his writing takes a more pick-me-up than a drag-me-down path. The songs are sad but matter-of-fact; sober but wry.
It’s always a careful balancing act as a songwriter to not only express yourself in a way you can remain extremely personal, but that still appeals to the universal themes we all can relate to. Far removed from his old band’s yacht-rock sound, MacDonald has a knack for simple, sticky melodies that stay with you long after the show finishes.
The type of immersive prairie songwriting of which MacDonald seems fond gives his music a comfortable, familiar feel, even if it’s the first time you are hearing it. The unmistakable themes of love, heartbreak, and the yearning for something that isn’t there anymore are great reminders that it’s often the softest voices that speak to us the most powerfully.
In his second and third albums You Were (2020) and Make Peace With That (2021), Field Guide employs simple, enduring melodies, subtle pedal steel, a compendious guitar sound, sure-handed, utilitarian drumming, restrained Wurlitzer keys, and understated bass lines. MacDonald has mastered the less is more approach, without sounding like something is missing in the arrangement.
Field Guide is Counting Crows mixed with John Mayer and Andy Shauf. There’s a unique tone to his voice that is masterfully complemented by guitar, an emotive force that leaves listeners drawn into his lyrics.
Don’t miss this show! Tickets are $25 and available at Pharmasave or online at eventbrite.com. Doors to The Lyric Theatre will open at 7:30pm and music starts at 8:30pm.
Blenders thanks Rittinger’s Men’s Wear for sponsoring this show.