LEXINGTON FIELD: Dreamers/Modern Times

Lexington Field are San Diego originals, starting as a seven-person Celtic folk outfit to evolve into a group that brands itself a fiddle rock band–while having the ability to play punk, folk, Celtic rock, bluegrass, and politically charged anthems (like 2016’s “Fu_k Donald Trump”) and songs that fit comfortably only in the Lexington Field music tradition. Since 2009, there have been personnel changes, but the current core retains Beau Gray (vocals, guitar), Bryan Hane (guitar), Cami Smith (violin), and current rhythm section Nick Sitar (drums) and Nick Freeling (bass).

Their newest release is a twofer of band originals, with a full-length CD, Dreamers, packaged with a five-song EP, Modern Times. This separates the eclectic band’s focus enough that the relatively softer and more lyrical rock material is heard on the 10 Dreamer tracks without throwing out the satisfying experience of hearing the Lexingtons plug in the overdrives and plow a hard rock field on the EP songs.

Dreamers also has some ravers, but “Crazy Love Song” is more typical, with Gray fronting drum-driven REM-flavored guitars as Smilth’s fiddle follows the melody, and the upbeat lyrics reference “Chasing those dreams/ Like we’re little kids.” This band has an ability to build up to big crescendos, and soaring backing vocals help do it again on “Greater Than the Sea,” pushing the rock envelope as Gray celebrates a transcendent love that “won’t end in misery.”

A fond look at the local SoCal life gives “Diego Nights” a special feel about sunny winters, the beach, and other constants here in River City, again driven by straight-ahead chiming guitars with fiddle flourishes. “Michigan” follows, and the foot is back on the rock gas, about remembrances of a quieter life. The knobs are also turned up for “The Lumberjack” as power chords drive the storyboard about an antisocial lumber man, a flood, and social redemption. “Story Time” is quieter and quirky, about a world “Where up can be down/ And early can be late.” Catchy, and it has an upbeat message about dreaming big.

Modern Times gets right to work with the punk-inspired “Side by Side,” in full attack mode, with Smith’s fiddle sounding like bagpipes and the band raising the roof as Gray testifies that this special love and son that came with it are the center of his life. Those who are familiar with the Celtic battle anthems on some of the group’s past albums, there is “We Are Fearless,” an absolute gasket-blowing call to arms, to not believe the lies and realize that time will come to rise up. Then, both brothers and sisters get a salute for their ongoing crusade, “Brothers, we will unite/At the end of the day/ There’s nothing left to say,” on the balls-to-the-walls “Tip My Cap.” For good measure, in case the message hasn’t gotten through, the title song reminds the listener to “Seize the day” and “Silence can’t be our only choice/ Lift the weak/ These present days seem so bleak.”

Lexington Field has scored a double winner with their new release, a must have for roots music fans.