The Field

Yesterday & Today, the sophomore release from The Field (AKA Stockholm producer Axel Willner), is at times lovely, but more often than not, it's less than rewarding.

2007’s critically acclaimed electronic crossover From Here We Go Sublime managed to bring The Field’s blissed out music and ethereal vocal loops to the masses. However, what distinguishes Yesterday (and ultimately tries to save it) from their prior effort is The Field’s move in a more musically organic direction, evident in the album’s first single “The More That I Do.” Based around tense chopped-up vocals, guitars, synthesizers and Axel's signature loops, the lead single is a success. John Stanier [Battles] sits in on drums and assists in incorporating natural propulsive percussion into the song’s musical DNA.

Nonetheless, Yesterday & Today has far too many moments that seem to go nowhere, leaving the listener waiting for a payoff that unfortunately never comes. Album opener “I Have The Moon, You Have The Internet” gets stuck too long on a one note drone without paying much attention to the beauty or the vastness that the song’s title evokes. Additionally, the cover of “Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime” (by British group the Korgis) attempts to pay homage to the atmospheric soundscapes of M83 without really capturing the “shoegaze,” otherworldly feel of Anthony Gonzalez’s more epic compositions.

As Axel brings the set to a close with “Sequenced” the listener is once again brought back to the calming, robotic territory of his former work—a musically cerebral place that The Field should attempt to visit often and again.

—Jason Barbanell
06.02.09

In case any doubt remained about Axel Willner's desire to be accessible beyond the realm of electronic dance music, his second album as the Field, Yesterday and Today, was licensed by Kompakt for U.S. release on Anti -- the eclectic, Epitaph-distributed label that was, at the time, pushing releases by Neko Case, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Booker T. At the least, it might help him shed some of the false associations that have been made between him and minimal techno, without exception drawn by those who are much more familiar with guitar bands than dance music. After all, Willner's productions are as minimal techno as early-'90s Field precursors Seefeel were minimal rock; they're not the least bit minimal, at least not sonically, and his approach to techno continues to sound like that of a dream pop/shoegaze freak. Those who dismissed the Swedish producer's first singles and From Here We Go Sublime for their unwavering formulaic nature won't likely be won over by this set, even though it features occasional input from several instrumentalists (including Battles drummer John Stanier), carries a few more twists and turns, and features a fairly straight cover of the Korgis' "Everybody's Got to Learn Some Time." It's more like a 30 than a 180, similar in its use of thickly layered, soothing white noise applied to cushiony thumps and microsamples, like the slivers of Elizabeth Fraser's voice from the Cocteau Twins' "Lorelei," used in "The More That I Do." If open to it, the album can be even more enveloping than the debut. The added warmth and a little extra depth go a long way. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi