The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

Some of the first generations of cd players had this cool little feature where you could repeat sections even when they were of the shortest of lengths. Keep in mind, this was before sampling took off so, essentially, early supporters of cd players could create their own samples by hitting the repeat button quickly and capturing a brief snippet of a song.
Typically, we’d do this on funny parts of a disc, or an annoying part that we’d endlessly repeat until it became funny.
Later on, I incorporated the aforementioned technique on some musical explorations, usually with the attempt to get a nifty rhythm track as the foundation for a song. Essentially, this was a primitive form of looping that I later maximized using various software programs that eventually became the core of a few discs using the Stover moniker.
Downfall? Well, let’s just say that all of the material that wasn’t committed to a disc ended up being purged by a fairly cruel ex-wife who completely gutted the hard drive that contained all of the tracks still “in progress.”
Today, all that is left (aside from two completed discs) are about six tracks that sound fairly dated and with additional work needed.
Additionally, I did manage to save the cover art that was to be the third album; it’s posted here for your amusement.
I bring all of this up because Sweden’s Axel Willner probably learned similar strategies of looping years ago and has incorporated his own techniques into a blend of ambient-based dance music under the moniker The Field.
The Field’s debut album, From Here We Go Sublime, is a challenging piece of work that’s been praised around music circles since its release a few weeks ago. It’s challenging in the sense that ambient dance music is as simplistic as one could imagine, trading in unique rhythm patterns for lush melodies that envelope the listener into a trance-like state. In other words: it goes entirely against the grain that one expects in an era of attention-deficit disorder.
When you listen to From Here We Go Sublime, you’re expected to wait patiently for any climatic moments while wading through endless loops that barely make an appearance over rhythms that are miles away from distracting.
Fans of rock music, hell, fans of traditional dance music will be better served by staying far away from The Field’s ambient vision. With that being said, for those listeners who possess enough patience to allow his methods to completely fruit, they may be in for a rewarding experience.
Take “A Paw In My Face” which repeats some delicate phrasing over and over, gently uncovering its source material (Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello”…No shit) at the very end of the song’s fade out.
The same strategy is used for the album’s closer and title track, except the song being used (The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes For You) is revealed by midstream.
Other tracks seldom provide the listener with much insight at all, which means that there is no “money shot” at all; you’re left with only a lush atmosphere to grab onto until Willner changes direction after the run out groove.
Admittedly, I’ve fallen victim to some of his lackadaisical approach with a certain amount of trepidation. It may be because the dance music I grew up with catered to its own primal pleasures (Midnight Star’s No Parking On The Dance Floor immediately comes to mind). But I can’t fault Willner from trying to use a primitive form of music to expand my sophisticated palate.
Let’s hope that he hasn’t stored his expansive visions on some hard drive that’s susceptible to the careless hands of a relationship gone bad.