The best power-pop bands have given up trying to escape their influences. The combined specter of The Beatles and The Beach Boys is just too large to avoid; between those two groups, it seems that literally every pop song had already been written by 1970, and further attempts at refinement merely rehash oft-covered territory. Mind you, we're not suggesting that you discard Field Music's debut in favor of historical giants; on the contrary, the best power-pop bands embrace this truism, often with the tenacity of a cockroach: their songs are so derivative that they've moved beyond their influences, creating a new musical space that takes Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds as its jumping-off point.

Field Music follow the New Pornographers and the reformed Big Star down this path, forging their own way but never straying very far afield. They're a supergroup of sorts, too, featuring former and current contributors to The Futureheads and Maximo Park, but if this record is any indication, the Sunderland, UK-based group should be headlining their own gigs soon enough. Instead of embracing the angularity of the self-conscious Britpop and New Wave scenes of yore, Field Music embrace the sugary pop-rock that defined the first British Invasion. Songs like single "Shorter Shorter" and closer "You're So Pretty..." bring prettiness to the foreground: clear guitars, piano flourishes, falsetto alliteration and perfect percussion are the name of the game, now and forever.

Opener "If Only The Moon Were Up" starts with a Kinks riff -- then brothers Peter and David Brewis come in with their well-crafted harmonies. The Brothers Brewis aren't crooners, but singers in the very best sense: their lyrics avoid clichéed and self-indulgent topics, instead bouncing sweet nothings around like wiffle balls soaring on the wings of melody in cuts like "17" and "Got To Write A Letter".

Although Field Music pretty much follow the pop convention of creating perfect short pop songs, they stretch past the four-minute mark on "It's Not The Only Way To Feel Happy" and "Got To Get The Nerve" in order to explore power pop's other facet: the side that's infatuated with psychedelia, but unable to give up on melody and indulge in an exploratory expedition. Both songs provide extended drives through the musical countryside without betraying the band's considerable skill at fleshing out a simple sing-along.

Field Music's debut is fully formed -- a crystallized moment of pure pop that acknowledges its influences while building upon them. For a first album, that's pretty damn good.