Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • The Damned - Evil Spirits 1 day ago
  • Slug - HiggledyPiggledy 1 day ago
  • Christina Vantzou - No. 4 3 days ago
  • The Fangasm: The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit 3 days ago
  • Laura Veirs - The Lookout 4 days ago
  • Eels - The Deconstruction 4 days ago
  • A Place To Bury Strangers - Pinned 4 days ago
  • "I am fascinated by art that asks a lot of questions": DiS Meets Jenny Wilson 4 days ago
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

The Field

Sound Of Light

Label: Heartbeats International Release Date: 10/02/2007

32776
charlesubaghs by Charles Ubaghs February 13th, 2008

Stockholm’s The Field, aka Axel Willner, was one of the few proper electronic acts of 2007 to be correctly filed under crossover. From Here We Go To Sublime, his debut LP on Kompakt, proved to be a potent tonic for many critics and like-minded fans thanks to its clever interweaving of deconstructed pop samples amongst a constant ebb and flow of synths and stuttering beats.

Willner’s latest as The Field, the iTunes-only Sound of Light EP, isn’t so much a follow-up as it is a quasi art instillation / clever marketing piece. Commissioned by Stockholm’s Nordic Light Hotel, _Sound of Light _is intended to be part of a series of works created by different musicians, reflecting their individual experiences after spending a night in the overly designed hotel.

An example of high-minded brand extension on the hotel’s part in an attempt to lure in the fashion crowd and Wallpaper subscribers? Of course. But, much like Brian Eno’s landmark Ambient 1: Music For Airports (which was designed to calm the nerves of airport passengers), the resulting EP rises above its initial context and rightfully stands on its own two feet as a solid body of work.

Structured around four, 15-minute-long movements entitled ‘Morning,’ ‘Day’, ‘Evening’ and ‘Night’, Sound of Light serves as a protracted extension to the ideas Willner explored on his debut. ‘Morning’, for example, stretches out the tricks heard on the more compact ‘A Paw in My Face’ and it’s easy to find other parallels between the two records. It’s only on the gorgeous ‘Night’ that you find Willner veering outside of his usual low-end to construct a dreamy, future landscape out of nothing more than cranked up synths, clicks and vocal samples flickering in and out of the background.

Ideas now familiar to anyone exposed to From Here We Go To Sublime abound here. Some might view that as a fault, but by extending the amount of time he previously allotted himself, Willner transforms and lends a whole new dimension to the proceedings that often proves itself to be blissfully hypnotic. Now let’s see if he can pull it off again with his proper follow-up.

  • 7
    Charles Ubaghs's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • The Damned

    Evil Spirits


  • Slug

    HiggledyPiggledy


  • Christina Vantzou

    No. 4


  • The Fangasm: The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit


  • Laura Veirs

    The Lookout


  • Eels

    The Deconstruction



Left-arrow

Farewell

Isn't This Supposed To Be Fun!?

Mobback
32851
32444

The Ruby Suns

Sea Lion

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    review


    The Damned - Evil Spirits

  • 105536
  • review


    Slug - HiggledyPiggledy

  • 105535

    review


    Christina Vantzou - No. 4

  • 105534
  • Column


    The Fangasm: The Midnight Organ Fight by Fright...

  • 105533

    review


    Laura Veirs - The Lookout

  • 105532
  • review


    Eels - The Deconstruction

  • 105531

    review


    A Place To Bury Strangers - Pinned

  • 105530
  • Interview


    "I am fascinated by art that asks a lot of ques...

  • 105529
MORE


    feature


    A Month in Records: August 2008

  • 33467
  • review


    Coldplay - Ghost Stories

  • 95631

    review


    Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

  • 7335
  • feature


    Cursive - Six Recorded Highlights

  • 45147

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • review


    Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks

  • 26283

    DiScover


    DiScover: Friendly Fires

  • 93726
  • news


    DiS curates the #IndependentMusicMonday Playlist

  • 101788
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2018 DROWNED IN SOUND