Early this year we highlighted School Of Language, the solo project of Field Music’s David Brewis. David’s FM bandmate and brother Peter is busy with a new band, too. They’re called The Week That Was and recently released their excellent self-titled debut, conceived as an information age crime drama. Peter was the original drummer of the Futureheads and carries elements of their angular post-punk to his current work, but TWTW’s best moments are gentler, darker. The lean riffs and tumbling percussion that kick off LP opener “Learn To Learn” recall Drums and Wires-era XTC with a Tortoise-y marimba track thrown in. Its Gavin Wood-directed video matches the song’s anxiety via frantic, repetitive cuts from students, soldiers, and an atomic bomb to a tower of TV screens broadcasting close-ups of the song’s squirrely-looking singer.

Here’s that MP3:

• The Week That Was – “Learn To Learn”Download

And another great track with a chamber pop vibe thanks to cameos from a handful of Field Musicians. This one’s more Apple Venus-era Partridge.

• The Week That Was – “The Story Waits For No One”Download

You can watch more tunes being rehearsed at the band’s Sunderland studio here and here, or visit them on MySpace. The Week That Was is out now on Memphis Industries.