Field Notes by People with Bodies

True to their abstract namesake, People with Bodies reminds us that, “After all, we’re just bodies in an environment.” You’ll hear those words spoken by author Mike Branch on the band’s first EP, and it’s a sentiment that’s continued to interest the band members, as the question of how to navigate the world as a body in a world full of other bodies, resounds both in their music and lives.

Their latest LP Field Notes, moves from the body to the different kinds of environment which houses it. Across the album’s fourteen tracks, which range from string-soaked soothers to kinetic indie punk, the band addresses climate anxiety (‘Hot Smoke’), the awe derived from physical beauty (‘Ode To Mountains’, ‘Lluvia en la Ciudad’, ‘Avocado Tree’), as well as more macrocosmic environments, as they tackle political and social environments on ‘My Death In America’ and ‘The Bardo’.

Recorded in a garage and wood shack in the south of Yosemite over New Year’s, 2019, the band were forced to reckon with the environment surrounding them, as a bark beetle infestation in the woods—exacerbated by climate change—threatened to disturb the recording process. Then, when high winds separated the enclosing trees from their roots, the band members feared for their lives. “There was one outside our recording shed that we thought might actually fall and kill us,” says Emily Pratt. “It felt very apt to what we were writing about — nature is beautiful but we can’t separate ourselves from our effect on it, nor our connection with it.”

Operating from a base of trust and excitement, the relationship Fil Corbitt and Emily share is symbiotic. They’re constantly working, inspiring one another, and giving comfort when it’s needed. With Mark Nesbitt, they’re a cohesive unit, and Fil describes it as “the healthiest relationship I’ve ever had.” They wish to extend that sense of unconditional communion to everyone who hears them, and it can be best experienced during one of their live shows. Equipped with a rotating selection of houseplants (they bring a new one for each tour, and they’re currently growing more from seeds during quarantine), their usual stage set-up can be likened to a living room, as a coffee table and lamp horseshoes the band in. It’s their attempt to make the interaction between audience and artist seem more familiar and less transactional.

“I’d love people to walk away comfortable, but with some new wonder or takeaway about what is possible,” says Fil. After a playthrough of Field Notes, that’s exactly what the listener should feel—a sense of both challenge and comfort—as they’re made to feel the weight of their own body, as well as all the potential it holds.

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