Kompakt’s purveyor of floaty light techno, The Field, has announced the release of a new album, follow-up to 2009’s Yesterday & Today
Its title, Looping State Of Mind, is about as accurate a description of Axel Willner’s ethos as possible – his last two albums have been built out of huge repeated chunks of melody and voice. The end result sounded a little like techno built out of pastel-coloured Lego bricks, with a lightness of touch that ensured it sounded even better on headphones than on a massive soundsystem.
"[The title] comes from the feeling of having looping thoughts – both good and bad – in your head, and being unable to get them out," Willner says – and adds, somewhat obviously, "But then, of course, my music is based around loops and repetition too.”
And appropriately enough for a man whose music is based on repetition, the artwork for Looping State Of Mind is once again identical to that of his last two records.
The music contained within, however, apparently takes a step away from straightforward techno in favour of a more expansive sound, adding acoustic instruments alongside his usual palette of samples. "Many of my old influences are still there," Willner says, "German electronics, modern classical, shoegaze and so on … but to be perfectly honest I now rarely put on a techno record at home or check out techno acts at clubs."
Looping State Of Mind will be released on 24th October.
