How is it, reader, that seeing the first snow of the year can be so awe-inspiring, yet at the same time instill a sense of great dread? Everything is coated in shimmering white, looking almost apocalyptic, and there you are, bundled up, knowing that this is how it will be for months to come. Snow is wonderful, reader, until you must shovel it. Then it becomes a gigantic pain in the ass.
But, reader, waxing poetic on the subject cannot do it justice like my current musical obsession. No stranger to wintry landscapes, Sweden's The Field (real name Axel Willner) makes minimal techno music that is repetitive without becoming boring. From Here We Go Sublime, his debut album, didn't receive universal critical acclaim for nothing. The sounds of Sublime are wintry, melancholic, uplifting, and have the scope of a sunrise over a white landscape and the intricacies of a snowflake. The vocal samples no longer speak recognizable words, and instead perform an ethereal, otherworldly chant, perhaps an approximation of what snow would sound like if it could sing. This is the music of clouds passing by at double speed, like this:
The songs are more than just soundscapes, reader. They are landscapes. Now, go forth and listen!
mp3: The Field - Over The Ice
mp3: The Field - Good Things End
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