When
Alex Willner
goes to work as The Field, you can be assured of certain things. The Swedish producer’s deep, minimalist slate of ambient electronica has produced winning entries already, such as 2007’s
From Here We Go Sublime
. Willner’s handiwork has always relied on hypnotic grooves, patterned textures and fragile beats, and that’s largely the template he works with on the new album, though there are darker moods in the mix too, in the shape of some exquisite drone moments. Willner pushes ideas this way and that throughout, with lovely shivery riffs running in and out of the title track and
Soft Streams
, while
Raise the Dead
and
Reflecting Lights
catch more of the newly minted snap and crunch he is exploring. This is an album where Willner experiments with his own preconceptions and comes up trumps.
