Looping State of Mind
Kompakt; 2011
The Field (aka Axel Willner) is a one-man trance/house project with strong flavors of minimalist techno, shoegaze and ambient music wrapped into a very coherent package that can really only be described as; The Field. Willner really broke out in 2007 with his debut LP From Here We Go Sublime, producing music so shameless in it's simplicity yet so unapologetic for it's majesty. Containing very limited 4/4 drum loops and samples repeated for minutes on end, creating a very blissfully hypnotic effect. It is this hypnotic bliss that Willner is so good at conveying, and he knows it. However he's also aware of the need to expand his sound to new horizons whilst still harvesting from his roots, as shown on his sophomore LP.
Now, roots are really the key to the ultimate success or failure of Looping State of Mind, and while the album title may suggest a strong return to form after 2009's somewhat meandering Yesterday and Today, Looping State of Mind actually finds Willner expanding more, however the music isn't quite as indulgent as that of Yesterday and Today. Sure there's not a single track under 7 minutes to be found here, but Willner really uses restraint on a lot of these tracks and actually builds on them. Whereas on a track like Sun & Ice off of From Here We Go Sublime, Willner would let the simplicity of the sample do all the work, we find him here on tracks like Burned Out, consistently layering the dreamy frenzy creating a kind of understated crescendo. This is one of the new tricks he's really honed in on throughout the album, and it's quite a welcome change of pace. Not only does he build on tracks but he also has the gall to drop them almost completely, as on It's Up There, where the core sample drops off, and the listener is forced to recognize the uncharacteristic amount of intricacy and overall funkyness in the drum loop. It's quite a bold move really, as it signifies Willner's departure from the surreal pathos of his 4/4 bass/high-hat drum loops and spare sampling, and his evolution into something more animalistic, base and primal in nature.
Don't get me wrong though, this still sounds like The Field we all know and love, Willner's still reveling in hypnotic bliss, his execution has simply changed. And the album does have it's weak moments, there are times when we find Willner relying on his samples a little too much, and one could still argue that his earlier, simpler methods make his present ones all the more convoluted and contrived. However it is clear that Axel Willner is still making electronic music which is compelling, cryptic and derivative of no one but himself. And although we may never hear another album quite like From Here We Go Sublime again in our lifetime, it has become clear with this release that The Field is a musical project wholly deserving of our time and attention.
8.1
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