Well, I’m blogging while sitting in a lecture on the Law of Trusts. Welcome to the connected generation.
The Field’s (or Alex Wilner’s) ‘From Here We Go Sublime’ was without doubt one of my albums of 2007. Kinda odd choice really, as up until that point I’d eschewed minimal like the plague, but there was something oddly warm and captivating about the relentless thrum of his compositions. It was minimal that seemed to overcome the genre’s tendency toward home-listening austerity through a willingness to embrace melodic fruition. Not to say it was fast moving, but it felt like minimal for those people who weren’t really ready to commit to the 16-hour Berlin party lifestyle. The fifth track, ‘Everyday’, was a perfect case in point, a song that begins in glacial isolation but, over the course of 7 minutes, gradually layers on arcing melodies and ethereal vocals until by the end it has become a soft, glowing slice of musical bliss. Pretentious that may be, but hey, it’s minimal. Vocal house this ain’t.
Which is all just lead in to the happy news that Mr Wilner is returning on May 18 with a new album ‘Yesterday and Today’. And even better, we have one of first tracks off the album ‘The More That I Do’. And it’s pretty great. It’s a bit more maximal and kinetic than I might have expected, but the drums are being done by John Stanier, the percussionist from math-rock gods Battles, so it makes sense really. But, even with that said, the melodies are far more cluttered and ebullient than almost anything you’d find on ‘From Here we Go Sublime’, so perhaps Wilner is beginning to lash out a bit in his sophomore year. How very Degrassi. Either way, it’s pretty awesome. Wrap your listening gear around it.
The Field – The More That I Do
Look forward to May 18 people. It’ll be swell.
/Luke
6 Comments
Attending.
I just picked up his previous album a couple weeks ago. I was completely floored. I’m excited for his new album! This is an absolutely beautiful track!
great post – keen to hear more stuff along the same lines.
so good!
even better than soy!
Hahaha. Connected indeed!
I’d argue that The Field is more of a deep melodic techno than minimal, as the layering is to complex and the phrasing of some of the samples is far longer than the standard brief minimal fair. Apologies I’m being a pedant. Nice write-up regardless, and I’m looking forward to hearing The More That I Do. I was a big fan of both From Here We Go Sublime and Mirrors, so to be presented with a mashup of the two disparate styles is potentially a dream come true (or a nightmare, depending on whether or not they pull it off).