We’re delighted to welcome back one of the most unique producers in modern electronic music!
Axel Willner, also known as The Field, continues to defy genres since breaking into the indie mainstream, and now conjures a more analogue and organic approach to his classic loop based sound. It results in a warm and familiar approach that will no doubt appeal to fans of classic Krautrock, contemporary ambient and beyond.
The Field‘s first visit to Ramsgate was a luxurious treat, and we jumped at the opportunity to invite him back. All fans of electronica – DO NOT MISS THIS!
“Effortlessly gorgeous, technically fantastic, genuinely awe-inspiring music” – Drowned in Sound
Born in southern Sweden, Axel Willner spent his formative years living in Stockholm and Lisbon, studying both at a formal music academy and in the moshpit, citing bands like Misfits and Dead Kennedys as inspiration to pick up the guitar and play in punk bands. Enamoured with the burgeoning electronic music scene of the mid-90s, he started composing and playing drone- and Warp-influenced IDM, followed by guitar-based ambient music that he released on his own imprint Garmonbozia in the early 2000s, using multiple pseudonyms like Lars Blek and Porte.
Combining affinities for classic pop (Lionel Richie, Kate Bush), shoegaze bands (Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine) and 90s experimental ambient (Seefeel, Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas) , Willner’s background in punk and avantgarde electronics came to full bloom with his widely acclaimed The Field project: signed to Kompakt in 2004, this monicker saw him constructing ambient techno based on a stoic motorik and a perpetually rotating hook, with the debut full-length From Here We Go Sublime receiving highest accolades from the likes of NME, the BBC and Pitchfork – who went on to place it inside the Top 200 records of the decade. According to Metacritic, it was the best-reviewed album of the year, tied with Untrue by Burial.
2013’s Cupid’s Head was hailed by Resident Advisor as ‘one of Willner’s most affirming and beatific creations to date’. It was also the first true solo production since The Field’s debut album – a restored focus that continues to the 2016 full-length offering The Follower. The Field went further than ever before in blurring the lines between concrete experimentation, body music and precisely laid-out arrangement, leading to one of the most rhythmically and texturally engaging listening experiences in Willner’s catalogue. Two years later, Axel Willner put on his Field suit again to present his sixth full-length effort for Kompakt, Infinite Moment – which saw him striding further across the deeper, richer rims of the hue cycle. In Willner’s own words, ‘the threshold of creating something new had to be broken’, as had been done with his past albums, including his acclaimed debut From Here We Go Sublime.
“One of electronic music’s more subtly lateral thinkers” – Resident Advisor
“Combining elements of the best ambient music with the emotive nostalgia and accessibility of Fennesz’s Endless Summer and Boards of Canada” – Pitchfork Media (9.0 review)
“Alluring and dreamlike” – AllMusic (9/10 review)
