There’s something happening out in them there paddocks these days. If it’s not Fields, Field Music or the blasted Field Mice then it’s good old-fashioned Sid Field.
What to do? Well Clash is here packing an icy punch in definitive say-so as we bring you THE Field. Kompakt Records’ latest ambient techno artist comes in form of Axel Wilner who hails from the south of Sweden yet has been slowly amassing an arsenal of electronic delights from his Stockholm base since his teens.
“The foundation for my music is made out of a sample which is rearranged and I add different machines and effects as well.”
The Field’s output is ethereal and almost ambient; a dense yet personal work of northern-lit composition that surpasses the usual threshold of digital music by presenting something which come close to suggesting a soul. Whereas early Techno from Detroit thrived on the machine music from the ghetto to a filthy backdrop of car plants and heavy industry, today’s dance music of Eulberg and his European brethren looks to nature and green space.
On first listen however what strikes you is that it could quite easily be lazily labeled as trance. So how does Axel see it? “Subliminal techno, swayable ambient perhaps?” he laughs. “Maybe people can compare it to the state of mind more than the music.”
The Field first arrived on Kompakt in 2005 with the highly praised ‘Things Keep Falling Down’ 12” which earned him his spurs amongst the blogging elite before he firmed up his burgeoning reputation and growing web presence with remixes for Annie, Norwegian dance rockers 120 Days (see Clash feature this issue) and James Figurine of Postal Service fame.
Despite his music’s instrumental nature, Axel is part of a growing number of electronic composers who successfully blend the 4/4 click of club culture but temper it with a serious glance towards nature, the outdoors and an almost shoe gazing aesthetic.
In the case of The Field, his more personal influences came from acts like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine which was hybridized through his fascination for Kompakt’s co-owner Wolfgang Voigt’s GAS and M:I:5 projects from the 90s.
“My influences are nothing special for the album except stuff that happened during the time recording. Music-wise the same as usual: Gas, Seefeel, Steve Reich, Stars of the Lid, Ashra and more. The foundation for my music is made out of a sample which is rearranged and I add different machines and effects as well.”
Coming as the vanguard of new European deep techno, Axel can count himself into the company of producers such as Nathan Fake, Alex Smoke, The 7th Plain and James Holden whose output all adopt a laid back yet epic vista with string arrangements that can nearly induce your common spotted male and pale UK clubber to tears.
Some have been calling this ‘Nano-trance’, some ‘Post-Pop Ambient’, yet whatever the press insist on manipulating it as ‘From Here We Go Sublime’ is an album which will continue to stand out from the crowd both now and even more so as time marches upon its template. It’s time to get out there and enjoy a good old day in The Field.
