Like its predecessor, Yesterday And Today is about an hour's worth of minimalist ambient techno split amongst a few lengthy tracks, though here there are fewer and they're even longer (with the closer, "Sequenced," clocking in at over 15 minutes.) The new album, though continuing in the same vein, offers an interesting new twist on producer Axel Willner's one-trick formula. You can still expect the same vast, expansive sound that characterized the icy chill of the debut, but it's gotten slightly warmer over the 2-year gap between releases. This is probably due to the increased use of human vocal samples, something which Willner has been incorporating more and more into his live shows of late. These are especially evident on the preview track, "The More That I Do," and on "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime," which borderlines on having vocals and lyrics (gasp!) Though most of the tracks contain the repetitive elements on which the ambient techno genre thrives, Yesterday And Today has a significantly greater dynamic range than From Here We Go Sublime. More electronic effects, layering, and use of different samples push the music in new directions, offering a lot of subtle yet exciting twists and turns that make the album especially enjoyable. However, I wouldn't say the sound is more refined: Yesterday And Today is more like a bolder, more adventurous sibling to the 2007 release rather than an evolutionary step forward (something also reflected in the album art, which is almost exactly the same for both discs.)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Yesterday And Today
Another great act from Sweden, The Field, also has a new record on the way. Yesterday And Today, the follow-up to 2007's epic From Here We Go Sublime, will be released on May 26th.
Like its predecessor, Yesterday And Today is about an hour's worth of minimalist ambient techno split amongst a few lengthy tracks, though here there are fewer and they're even longer (with the closer, "Sequenced," clocking in at over 15 minutes.) The new album, though continuing in the same vein, offers an interesting new twist on producer Axel Willner's one-trick formula. You can still expect the same vast, expansive sound that characterized the icy chill of the debut, but it's gotten slightly warmer over the 2-year gap between releases. This is probably due to the increased use of human vocal samples, something which Willner has been incorporating more and more into his live shows of late. These are especially evident on the preview track, "The More That I Do," and on "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime," which borderlines on having vocals and lyrics (gasp!) Though most of the tracks contain the repetitive elements on which the ambient techno genre thrives, Yesterday And Today has a significantly greater dynamic range than From Here We Go Sublime. More electronic effects, layering, and use of different samples push the music in new directions, offering a lot of subtle yet exciting twists and turns that make the album especially enjoyable. However, I wouldn't say the sound is more refined: Yesterday And Today is more like a bolder, more adventurous sibling to the 2007 release rather than an evolutionary step forward (something also reflected in the album art, which is almost exactly the same for both discs.)
Like its predecessor, Yesterday And Today is about an hour's worth of minimalist ambient techno split amongst a few lengthy tracks, though here there are fewer and they're even longer (with the closer, "Sequenced," clocking in at over 15 minutes.) The new album, though continuing in the same vein, offers an interesting new twist on producer Axel Willner's one-trick formula. You can still expect the same vast, expansive sound that characterized the icy chill of the debut, but it's gotten slightly warmer over the 2-year gap between releases. This is probably due to the increased use of human vocal samples, something which Willner has been incorporating more and more into his live shows of late. These are especially evident on the preview track, "The More That I Do," and on "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime," which borderlines on having vocals and lyrics (gasp!) Though most of the tracks contain the repetitive elements on which the ambient techno genre thrives, Yesterday And Today has a significantly greater dynamic range than From Here We Go Sublime. More electronic effects, layering, and use of different samples push the music in new directions, offering a lot of subtle yet exciting twists and turns that make the album especially enjoyable. However, I wouldn't say the sound is more refined: Yesterday And Today is more like a bolder, more adventurous sibling to the 2007 release rather than an evolutionary step forward (something also reflected in the album art, which is almost exactly the same for both discs.)
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