Field School serves as the solo outlet for Charles Bert, previously of Math and Physics Club, where he channels earnest, jangly indie pop through a lens of gentle warmth that acknowledges both joy and sorrow. Handling every instrument on his own, Bert unveiled the project’s debut full-length, When Summer Comes, during 2022.
Earlier, Bert had issued four albums while serving as singer and rhythm guitarist for Seattle’s Math and Physics Club, a run that stretched from the mid-2000s through the band’s early 2018 release Lived Here Before. After co-founder and lead guitarist James Werle succumbed to cancer later that year, the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset in early 2020 stranded musicians at home, prompting Bert to develop new material in solitude. Based in Olympia, Washington, he drew guidance from the sonic character and D.I.Y. principles of regional indie pop powerhouse K Records alongside England’s Sarah Records, teaching himself the necessary skills while writing, arranging, performing, and tracking everything solo. Artist Jimmy Ulvenes, a friend, launched the cassette imprint Small Craft Advisory specifically to present the initial Field School recordings across three limited-edition EPs—It’s Only Everything, Hey Satellite, and Swainson’s Thrush—issued in January, April, and August 2022. Several of those tracks resurfaced on When Summer Comes, which Bobo Integral released that November.
