Solar fields - [Extended]

[psychedelic_mustache]

Artist: Solar fields

Title: [Extended]

Released: October, 2005

 

Tracklist

1.Air Song (8 am version)

2.No Answer

3.Station 5

4.Winter Sun

5.Combinations

6.A place to think

7.Detection (Far and Extended)

 

Hmm... How does one attack an album such as this? First of all I need to point out a coupple of things. Now this guy is releasing two albums at the same time. This one(Which is not the "proper" album) and "Leaving home". I have no idea how many records this guy sells, but I wanted to digest his stuff one album at the time - so I decided to get this one first as it's an album limited to only 1000 copies. This means it's a collectors item - so get it while you can!

 

As allways ultimae delivers quality. The packaging, the smell(!) of the cover(is that a coincidence? does every cover smell like this? You'll know what I'm talking about if it does...) and ofcourse the music.. It's all just marvelous! Over the last few days this album has been playing pretty much non-stop from my stereo, and I actually get rather annoyed and upset if annyone manages to pop in something elese or turn it off. describing this thing track-by-track is quite useless - But If annyone's interested I'll still have a go.... So let's take a dive into this universe and find out why I like it so much!

 

01: Air Song

When I listen to this album I get the feeling of traveling through space. It's a rather different journey, though, as we begin at the far reaches of the universe - travelling slowly towrds the earth. We begin this journey with "Air song", a very warm experience. It's mostly beatless floating with lots of healing bass. There are hints of piano and other instruments as well. The atmospheres are extremely beautiful and there is a lot of emotion in here. Clocking in at over 16 minutes the track never hurries, but takes it's time while it slowly morphes through space. If this doesn't get you in to that soft, mellow mood - Nothing will.

 

02: No Answer

We continue drifting through space, still slowly, but steadily approaching earth. There are hints of humanity and life here - a distant female voice. It also feels organic in other ways. Appart from the shifting soundscapes there are a lot of noises bubbeling in the background. The first six minutes of the track have a rather dark feeling, but we step in to the light and accelerate to hyperspped(Thats VERY relative, ofcourse...) when the trippiest breakbeats I've heard in a long time kick in.

 

03: Station 5

If you're not lost by now there must be something seriously wrong with you. Seek professional help, and do so quickley! "Station 5" is a place to catch your breath and interact with some alien lifeforms. The everchanging, haunting soundscapes are built on top of eachother. Layer upon layer, theres no telling how deep it really goes - I discover new things in here all the time. Again there is a beat present in much of this track that just adds to the intensity and general feeling.

 

04: Winter Sun

We're now closing in on our solar-system and if we focus really hard we can see our own sun in the distant. It looks cold, though - surrounded by storms of all sorts and the black, empty void of space.

Various sounds enters the scene now and then, adding some content to the story. A meteor sweeps by. A rock crashes in to a planet. You know the rest of the journey will be intense as well, so buckle up!

 

05: Combinations

"Combinations is again a very long track, just over 16 minutes. It's very clear now that we're approaching familiar territory. A ticking clock makes us aware that time is everpresent. The voices of human beings can also be heard in the distance. The sounds shift all the time and all the various "blips", "blops" and "klicks" gives me the sense of passing througs the atmospheres of the different planets.

 

06:A Place to Think

Approaching our final destination we land on the moon to observe the blue planet from above. This is a very meditative track, as the title suggests. Very quiet, very stripped down and very beautiful...

 

07: Detection ( Far and extended)

With this final track, we plant our feet firmly on the ground again. To our suprise we land in the middle of the swedish city Göteborg. We stumble around, pretty amazed that we managed to reach this weird place. All the cars, all the people, the planes flying around over our heads. It all seems so random, but still makes perfect sense, just like this album does.

 

Final Remarks:

Solar Fields has managed to produce something pretty damn special here. I haven't heard "leaving home" yet, and I think I need some more time with this one before I buy it. If it proves to be as good as this(which judging by other peoples reactions so far it seems to be) I'll be absolutely stunned! I mean - this is quality, it's about as close to perfection as it's possible to come in this genre. In a very short time this album has managed to get a very special place in my heart, and I'm pretty sure this will turn out to be one of those monumental albums for me - one of those very few albums that will stand out and last for years. You shouldn't be without it. Really!

 

get it here:

Ultimae

Saikosounds

 

More reviews, interviews and good vibes: www.sonic-energy.net

[Banan]

awesome releases.. but leaving home is #1 for me

in this extended album there are melodies from leaving home usually.

[abasio]

 

Tracklist

 

1.Air Song (8am version)

2.No Answer

3.Station 5

4.Winter Sun

5.Combinations

6.A place to think

7.Detection (Far and Extended)

 

An amazing journey of an album! What that journey is, is hard to tell & judging by the 1st review it is different for everyone. The music itself is beautiful & it sends me into a quazzi dream state. Lifting me out of my consciousness into another realm & takes you deeper into yourself at the same time. It's soft dreamy ambient that doesn't rush but takes it's time.

 

Let me tell you a story

 

1. Airsong (8am version)

 

My mind is floating somewhere, high above the word completely detached. I'm trying to find my body. Around 6 minutes in I find it, I'm sat on a beach in the early hours after dawn. I hear a soft piano/string melody & I know I'm on a Mediterranean beach. Hints of a storm on the horizon feels like it's coming closer. When the bass comes in I know it's headed this way so I haul myself up & start making my way home. My mind is muddled from the long night & I know sleep is waiting for me back home. I see all the early morning people on their way to work, they seem backwards to me, unreal. I feel like I'm half in a dream making my way back home in the early morning going the opposite way to everyone else. I feel like I'm drifting away but the bass brings me back each time. I'm sat on the empty train watching the new world go by. Finally I'm in the final chapter of this opening finale I'm on the home stretch, I know my home is near I just have to keep walking, floating towards it. For there, dreams await.

 

2. No Answer

 

I lie in bed asknIg for the other world to take me in but it's not happening quite yet. Noises from the other room you can always hear when you are trying to go to sleep in the late morning after a party. There are now beautiful sounds mixed in with these clunks from the neighbour & overtime they get stronger & the clunks become less until finally I am finally in a dream state. Slowly, softly the beats come in & then suddenly there they are, they've been there all the time but I've only just become aware. I'm lifted up. I'm travelling on air, above the sun lit streets looking down on children playing in the park, people walking here & there, talking about everything & nothing. I watch, I wonder, they don't reply.

 

3. Station 5

 

An updraft lifts me higher, high among the clouds. Up up up above the world, too high to see what I once saw, high enough that I can spend time with the rain before it falls on the happy people below. Up here I sit contemplating nothing at all. The softest beats come out of nowhere. Louder, louder they sound. Who's there? I can sense something near me but I can not see it. Just a feeling & now a sound. Is it Laputa? A castle in the sky, hidden by the clouds so I can feel just an obscured presence of paradise. I can't believe it's there as I can't see it with my eyes. It starts to move away, I catch a brief glimpse of this little piece of heaven in the sky but as soon as it appears it fades away. Out of reach forever just leaving the sense of missed bliss.

 

4. Winter Sun

 

The wind is blowing, you can feel it, you can hear it. Can you? I can as it blowing from the south it carries me north. It's cold & white & bright up here. Slowly I fall & I'm now stood on white cliffs looking out over a cold ocean. I hug myself to keep warm. I can hear whales that aren't whales, voices that aren't voices, sounds that aren't quite communication. I can feel the water on my feet now, I've come down from the cliff & I'm wading into the water trying to find the source of the non-voices. But the whales that aren't whales are gone.

 

5. Combinations

 

As I stand alone, ankle deep in ice cold water the rain starts to pour & brings with it a mist. As quickly as it has descended the mist lifts & reveals to my next transport on this journey of mine. A vessel welcomes me aboard but not inside. I have to stay outside with the elements. I can hear the storm fading away in the distance. It has gone, so has the ocean. While watching the storm fade I've traveled into a river. As I go down the river it gets warmer & greener on each side. The vessel fades & I'm sat on driftwood. The greens get greener & greener until it's jungle on each side. There are people on the river banks. Tribes. I go deeper, the sounds of people become louder, the natives louder & louder until the rain comes & washes them away. Are they still there? I'm not. I'm no longer on the river I'm in a different current now, in the air taking me higher over the jungle. I see them! The natives dancing. I get closer only to see these are not native tribes but techno pagans. People trying to shed the modern culture while clinging to it. I want to leave, I can not join them I must go higher, higher, higher. Down Down Down with the rain I'm falling into nothingness.

 

6. A Place to Think

 

I'm lost. I sit a while. When did it get dark? How did I not notice? There is a river somewhere nearby but it feels twisted & strange. I close my eyelids to shield my eyes, my brain from the darkness & try to focus on where the river is. Or if it is even a river, maybe it's a waterfall or maybe it's not even water I'm hearing but an animal come to share my space away from life. These brief flurries of thought come & go. I wonder again where I am, if I am really here. These thoughts I decide are better left unthought. I think it's time to go. The bugs outside tell me I'm right.

 

7. Detection (Far & Extended)

 

I am called by Him. He lifts me up out of that dark place & breathes new life into me. He embraces me & whispers into my ear, the thoughts I was failing to have fade away drift away as I understand his meaning. I feel loved & out of place. I'm moving fast now with a beat to my step. Faster than before. Faster than I've ever been but relaxed at the same time. Up & out away from the world. My world. The sun has went away long before it's all a blur I rush, I rush, I'm relaxed. I can't see the world anymore, I've gone interstellar & left it forever? Do I feel sad? Melancholic with a sense of adventure. Will I see my home again? Will I find a new one? I fly, I float through the empty regions. Empty of thought but filled with sound. His sound, His presence. I'm filled with excitement & wonder. Where am I going so fast at relaxed speeds? Then I see it. Out of the nothingness. It oscillates towards me I look upon my new home. I drop into the clouds & pause not knowing what to do or what to expect. A slight trepidation before I take the plunge. As slowly as a rain drop I fall over a city, down over the houses. I can hear these strange creatures talking to each other, I move on. I see a building. All the lights are on except one. I go to the darkened room & enter. I look down at myself sleeping facing wondering what it is I am dreaming.

 

I open my eyes. It's dark outside. I can here the rest of the household downstairs watching TV. I wonder what I'll do this evening.

[Drosophila]

Beautiful story abasio...

 

This album is truly special! It has the strength to make your mind goes places it usually doesn't, it takes you places that you need to go once in a while in the world we live in! For me this album is essential!

 

I can't help getting the feeling of flying too, usually I end up somewhere in the deepness of space, exploring realms of unseen beauty and mystery.... everything is alien yet familiar... as the music is... the slow building and melding composition is galactic!

 

This is a plunge into inner dimension I love to take... but I think you have to be ready to take that jump before you will really enjoy this album, its about giving in to the music and let it sink right in to the very core of your being. Try it!

[Rotwang]

Seems they still have copies for sale at IDSpiral's online shop.

[Somseensee]

Fantastic Album !!! 10/10

[Yard Hippie]

I listened to this for the first time in a while again today whilst walking home in the rain and yet again I've fallen in love with it. It's definately mood music of the highest calibre and when you are in the right space almost nothing can beat it. Imo this is better even than 'Movements'; possibly Magnus' finest hour.

 

@murphythecat: Btw, you mention in the 'about time' thread that you don't understand why music could sound better in Summer than winter... Well this is another of those albums that has a definate sweet spot with the weather. It just works perfectly on stormy, dreary days and turns them into something quite special.