THE FIELD - From Here We Go Sublime

Have you ever heard of "recombinant pop"? Recombinant pop is a musical genre that differs from all the other various labels invented by critics because it isn't defined by the combination of sounds and rhythms it presents, but by the method with which the music is composed¹. Just as the technique of recombinant DNA (which should be part of the high-school science curriculum) consists of using fragments of existing DNA to artificially form an entirely new sequence, so the technique of recombinant pop consists of sampling, that is, cutting up pieces of pop songs in order to then compose something different, often so different that the sample becomes unrecognizable.

The Field, aka Axel Willner, is a musician who applies to recombinant pop a further, highly technological technique: the so-called loop, or repetition. Repetition is a defining feature of dance music, since it's necessary for the dancer to keep time, but, on closer inspection, it's much more than a divertissement for pilled-up clubbers. Repetition has a hypnotic effect on the listener, forcing them to focus on details, to perceive even the smallest changes (so-called breaks), to zero in on the essence of the track through an overexposure of these details: the music becomes a sculpture, more than a journey².

On an emotional level, repetition produces a tension that, if not offset by variations, can become boring, or even unbearable (without the support of ketamine derivatives). Nonetheless, if well handled, repetition can produce highly evocative music, with real added value.

After this terribly dull and pretentious technical preamble, I'll try to be brief: "From Here We Go Sublime" is an insane record: this guy takes an insignificant second of an insignificant Lionel Ritchie song (Lionel Ritchie, just think about that), and creates an entirely new piece of music, stretched out, astral, and yet so urban, both full and minimal at once, both dance and ambient at once, both pop and experimental at once. Because that's what recombinant pop is like, it can be any other genre at all, and that's not even the best part - the really cool thing is that you don't even need to know what exactly is being sampled and repeated in a million loops.

Mr. Willner is well aware of this: he plays at hiding his original plasmids only to suddenly reveal them, with a surprise effect worthy of a magician (you will NEVER guess what's behind the title track before the 2'15" mark), and it's impossible to notice that "Over The Ice" is nothing but the thoroughly transfigured space-techno vision (stuff not heard since the dream-house wave of the '90s, since that unforgettable, landmark "Beachball" by Nalin & Kane) of "Under Ice" by Kate Bush. Absurd. No hay banda. It's all recorded.

1 Thanks to Mike B. of clapclap.org for the insights on recombinant pop.

2 The intelligent observations on the role of repetition in music that I'm borrowing here are from Robert Henke, better known as Monolake (interview given to Andrew Cooke in November 2005).

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04/04/2007