FIELDS whet appetites for the April 17 release of The Silence Of Staying In - apt title or what? - with the second single to be lifted from the album, 'Lincoln'.
Although based in the capital, the six-piece outfit also have members from Monaghan, Cavan and Longford and "draw inspiration from the Irish heartland - a sleepy and often maligned region which is wide awake with spirit and charm."
Spirit and charm certainly abound on 'Lincoln', which reminds us at times of Conor J. O'Brien and Villagers while bringing plenty of its own to the party.
The lads have also shared the poem behind that album title:

"Trouble in the heartland. Trouble in the heart. This condition. Served by hand, a state of being. Its rendition. Served to implore, the state of things. These ill winds might yet make a ruin of me, the dwelling listener. All I hear is the noise of a townland tenement behind my eyes. Resident. Ripping up the floorboards, tearing paper from the walls. They smile at the thought of visitors occupying decorated halls. Remnants of a rule, polished and placed in every corner of the mind. The silence of staying in, for to disappear with time. Reverence remains, somewhere between the hours as these hands pass mahogany and stone, to down our promises. Together. All alone. What of this trouble in the heartland? What of this trouble in the heart?"

Heartwarming stuff for a bitterly cold Easter Monday.