Solar Fields - Altered - Second Movements

[abasio]

 

Artist: Solar Fields

Title: Altered: Second Movements

Label: Ultimae

Released: 26 July 2010

Style: Ambient, Downbeat

 

Tracklist

 

1 Insolate (9:15)

2 eMotion Of Circles (7:23)

3 Rediscover (9:45)

4 Closing The Sky (6:34)

5 Our Blue Stones (6:23)

6 Universal Dust (6:25)

7 Bngl.w (7:20)

8 Feel (8:42)

9 Changing Patterns (4:10)

10 Staring Into The Nothingness (7:30)

11 A Breeze Through Life (5:42)

 

This is the perfect example of what a remix album should sound like. The first time I heard this album I didn't hear much of the original tracks in these reworkings of them. I heard the siganture stuttering bassline from Sol in the opening track Isolate and that was about it. However on further listening and comparisons I can hear the elements from each track but played so differently that I am often left wondering: Is this a remix album? Of course this is a remix album of Solar Fields last labum Movements but the blurb stating that this is so much more (something of which I was very skeptical of at the time of purchasing) turned out to be 100% true.

 

Over the last few years I have become more of an ambient head than a lover of downbeat and psychill. Whilst I used to listen to Psychill about 65% to ambient's 35% it has probably reversed recently and now Extended is in my CD player more often than Leaving Home & I feel that Altered is a lot better than Movements. I loved movements it moved me a lot and I loved playing it over and over again even when I played live I would often include a healthy dose from that album. Altered though goes one step further for me and I just cannot stop listening to this album. I have had it about 6 months now and must have listened to it a hundred times. It is everything you'd expect from Solar Fields: powerful, emotional and very classy. For some it might not be as easily accessible as Movements but for others I think it will be more of a grower. I liked it a lot when I first listened to it but I loved it more and more as I listened to it again and again.

 

In such a great album it is hard to have a standout but Solar Fields is nothing if not consistent and his albums usually have one track that stands out among the crowd of giants. In the album it is Staring Into The Nothingness which has a real cinematic edge to it, it is deep, it is emotional, it is epic. I don't often use the word epic but I would say it about this track. My favourite track this year so far on one of my favourite albums of 2010.

[IronSun]

 

Artist: Solar Fields

Title: Altered: Second Movements

Label: Ultimae

Released: 26 July 2010

Style: Ambient, Downbeat

 

Tracklist

 

1 Insolate (9:15)

2 eMotion Of Circles (7:23)

3 Rediscover (9:45)

4 Closing The Sky (6:34)

5 Our Blue Stones (6:23)

6 Universal Dust (6:25)

7 Bngl.w (7:20)

8 Feel (8:42)

9 Changing Patterns (4:10)

10 Staring Into The Nothingness (7:30)

11 A Breeze Through Life (5:42)

 

 

 

A bit slow to catch up, as always, I have only received this album in my mail last week. However, it has been in my cd player almost non-stop until then. Anyhow, on to the review:

 

Altered: second movements is the remix of one of my favourite albums of all time, Movements also by ambient and downtempo grandmaster Solar Fields. I only discovered Solar Fields' music in the end of 2009. Like many, my first contact with psychedelic music was Infected Mushroom, and from there I steadily discovered this vast electronic universe of psychedelic trance and it's offspring. So it happened one day, that I began to look to psybient horizons, and the first name that popped up on my search was, yes you guessed it, Solar Fields. After hearing Leaving Home, I was immediately sold. The one lead to another and here I am, reviewing this album.

 

Remix Albums always are a very risky undertaking. The chance of screwing up beloved tracks is a great pitfall and has been proven to be so by many artists over and over again. So as I loved movements to death, I had no expectations whatsoever from this album, call it a safety measure. But after reading Abasio's review here and some other reviews on different sites, I decided to buy it and hear for my own ears how Magnus had fared. Needless to say, as others have pointed out before me, it is a real masterpiece. To take an album, remix it and come up with something so different but so alike at the same time while expanding on the listening experience is an astonishing feat.

 

While Movements was a masterpiece in it's own right, it is as if Magnus saw even further and created this. It is deep, immersive, very story-telling, the sounds are all in perfect order and place, he creates atmospheres so vivid yet so minimalistic that I truly can not comprehend this man's vision, but it must be vast. It's gentleness, classiness and genius really stand in a category of their own. This is epic psybient of the likes I have heard too few times in my life. While I also loved Extended, I feel this just goes even further, showcasing Magnus evolution in music writing and sound-engineering.

 

While Sol was a monsteropener for Movements, I feel Insolate is more of an introduction, slowly paving the way for an amazing listening experience. The first real earopener in my opinion is Rediscover. The atmosphere makes me think of a wide open plain, where strange beasts are grazing on a surreal sunny afternoon, shepherds playing strange instruments I have never seen before yet sound so familiar. Everything I envision is painted on a canvas but with sounds, not brushes. I will spare you the rest of the story, as it always looks better in my head then I could possibly convey with words. Yet, there is never only one story to be told by this album, every time I listen to it something else forms in my mind, and I just delight in the soundscapes. Before I know it, I arrive at Our Blue Stones, and this track is just so beautiful and fits the flow of the past tracks perfectly only to come across Universal Dust, which darkens the atmosphere for a short time before flowing over in to the vast and wonderful Bngl.w! Happiness, joy, positive emotions, this is what this track conveys. It's almost as if I'm engulfed and overflooded by these emotions, and it feels so good. After this we slowly build up to the absolute pinnacle of this album (rather fitting, because the road to nothingness was the best track on the previous album as well) to Staring into the Nothingness. I can but agree with what Abasio said, this is an epic track, unbelievably good. The album ends with A Breeze Through Life, a fitting name to summarize and conclude this gem, it gently lets you down on your feet again.

 

Countless of times I have closely listened to this album and time and time again I think "This is Fantastic!!". Another quality is that this is also incredible study music, because it's gentle and soft and one can read into it as much as one wants or not at all, and just let the sounds reach your ears. Even then it creates a soothing atmosphere.

 

Conclusion: Highly recommended!!

[abasio]

I've listened to this hundreds of times now and I must say that Staring into the Nothingness is one of my favourite tracks of all time

[Time_Trap]

Well I disagree with the rest of the reviewers here. Today I just listened to Leaving Home and Altered - Second Movements , one after the other. I have to say that I enjoyed Leaving Home much more. One thing that is not mentioned here is that Altered - Second Movements is beatless while Leaving Home has some nice beats & rhythms. Altered - Second Movements is not bad beatless ambient, quite the contrary, some tracks are above average while some tracks and parts are mostly filler or just decent/average.Generally I enjoyed the first tracks of the album more. I think Solar Fields should stick to psychill/downtempo music with beats, because he is so much better at this realm. He is good at beatless ambient too, certainly not bad, but compared to other ambient producers such as Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana, Biosphere, Vir Unis (which are pioneers and masters of the genre) or to ambient producers such as Maitreya, Deepspace,Telomere, he is nowhere close.

 

I've listened to this hundreds of times now and I must say that Staring into the Nothingness is one of my favourite tracks of all time

I have to disagree with this, to me it was a rather indifferent track and kind of cheesy too.

 

So, all in all

Leaving Home : 9/10

Altered - Second Movements : 6.5/10

[abasio]

I have to disagree with this, to me it was a rather indifferent track and kind of cheesy too.

 

You disagree that it's one of my favourite tracks?

[Time_Trap]

Of course not, but I disagree it's a splendid track

[Sideffect...]

Solar Fields - Altered - Second Movements - (2010)

I was hoping to get some more after movements released in 2009.

I've recognized tunes from movements but the tracks are indeed different.

So like mentioned above this is more a rmx album and I still prefer the original tracks.

It's to my experience not an gain if you have the other albums imo.

They didn't put much effort in changing the tracks and mixing?? I don't know....

But still, it's a psychedelic journey as each solar fields album so I did enjoy it.

My expectations were a bit to high I guess...

Also the recording volume is bit lower compared to other albums,

maybe because it's a mixed cd, I don't know. But it's noticeable....

 

Discogs: http://www.discogs.c...release/2374769

[Jon Cocco]

Staring Into Nothingness. Words only describe. This track is marvelous! A

 

Hear the full song on Youtube here:

 

[FatKidWitAJetPak]

Staring Into Nothingness was the first Solar Fields track I ever heard, and my very first psybient tracks. I was awe inspired by his slowly developing basses. I wrote him a few letters and he was kind enough to give me some feedback on an EP of mine... what an awesome guy! I now have his entire discography, including his trance album "Earthshine". Personally, my favorite album of his is "Blue Moon Station" but all of them are incredible. I do not care much for his newest 2012 album, sadly, but I am eagerly awaiting his hopeful involvement in the new Mirrors Edge release. When I asked him if he will be producing this album, he simply responded with "No Comment" but I have a good feeling...

[IronSun]

Staring Into Nothingness was the first Solar Fields track I ever heard, and my very first psybient tracks. I was awe inspired by his slowly developing basses. I wrote him a few letters and he was kind enough to give me some feedback on an EP of mine... what an awesome guy! I now have his entire discography, including his trance album "Earthshine". Personally, my favorite album of his is "Blue Moon Station" but all of them are incredible. I do not care much for his newest 2012 album, sadly, but I am eagerly awaiting his hopeful involvement in the new Mirrors Edge release. When I asked him if he will be producing this album, he simply responded with "No Comment" but I have a good feeling...

 

I can only imagine you were awe-inspired by Solar Fields if Staring into the Nothingness was the first track you ever heard of him nice way of being introduced to psybient ^^