#alex willner

The Field - Pink Sun (live)

There is a lot expected of this year, after all, it is the dreaded 2012.  Musically speaking, it would be nice if we had a good solid year of the stuff, but something tells me it will be more of the same like last year, mediocre pap, filler everywhere and only a handful of truly worthwhile releases. 

Thankfully, Kompakt is starting the year out on an easy note.  The latest Pop Ambient compilation has been released, and like the others that preceded it, it seems to reassure us that it is OK to take it easy.  We consider this somewhat of an aperitif.

‘Pop Ambient 2012’ starts off with the latest from label head, Wolfgang Voigt under his latest guise as Mohn.  Though it’s only a pseudonym, it is worth keeping on an eye on this incarnation.  Mohn have put a few tracks out there already, and they all seem pretty tasty for ‘ambient grunge’ (Voigt may be on to something…) He makes another appearance as himself a little over halfway through the compilation with “Rückverzauberung 5”

There are returning faces and some new ones, but overall it plays out as a gentle odyssey in the vast field of ‘ambient’.  Curious to know who the unnamed figure is behind their guise of Morek. Whoever it is rolls out a nice fuzzy drone, “Pan”.  Marsen Jules pulls a fast one with a slight jazz odyssey-type thing.

Alex Willner not only moved from his home in Sweden to Berlin, but he is also moving on sonically.  As The Field, he recently released his third album 'Looping State of Mind' just a few months ago.  Now he is taking on a pseudonym and changing his familiar sound.

Willner will showcase his new sound in January, when he releases 'And Never Ending Nights' under the name of Loops Of Your Heart.  One track actually appears on the recent Kompakt compilation Pop Ambient 2012.  Willner has a knack for things repetitive and hypnotic, so it should be no surprise that his new guise gets even more far out, and deep into space and krautrock.

Get your krautrock on below!

This is where the power of a trio comes into play.  On this album, Alex Willner and the other two members of the band really start to channel Neu!  Constant repetition and loops are nothing new to The Field, in fact, loops have been somewhat of a signature for the band.  'Looping...' takes a different angle, where now the band build on their loops and rhythms with live instruments, adding more scope and muscle to what listeners had previously become accustomed to as well as implementing more vocals in the mix. 

The Fields’ last LP saw a somewhat aimless affair, but having added more warm flesh in the mix, ‘Looping...’ is starting to sound like a band that is truly growing in both confidence and ability, and is not afraid to follow and idea through to see wherever it may lead…even if it be fewer and longer songs.

Though ‘Looping State Of Mind’ is flexing more muscle, it is not totally back on form.  Both the band and listener have to make room for the ‘new’ sound and angles brought in.  The addition of more ‘organic’ instruments make some of Willner's influences more easily recognizable.  His love of the ‘shoegaze’ days and flirtations with Goth are picked up on almost straight away.  This is where the album starts to get really interesting, when the new layers are interwoven with the typical Field sound.  It has definitely grown into a third dimension.

Like many of the songs, the LP hits its stride midway through, with the trio of big hitters, two of which clock in over 10 minutes and finishes up with the hazy ‘Sweet Slow Baby’

‘Arpeggiated Love’ is a prime example of the shape that the Field are now starting to take.  Basically the same blueprint they’ve used before, but as it trails on towards the 11 minute mark, its momentum turns this into glorious overdrive.

The title track almost echoes a bit of Andy Summer’s guitar work, begging one to think there may be a Police sample dropped in there somewhere.  True to its title, it keeps one gliding along in a groovy trance until the hymn like keys shine down, turning it all into a warm glowing bliss.

If there was ever a song which perfectly illustrates the feeling of being bleary eyed and lost in a fantastic stupor, it would have to be ‘And Then It Turns White’  Is this an example of what happens when that peaceful Windham Hill type stuff gets mixed in with with some beats and samples?  Whatever the mélange is, it works…and it works perfectly.

'Looping State Of Mind' isn't venturing into any new territory, but the added dimensions of new instrumentation and implementing new ideas, definitely make for a new way of listening to The Field.