Mistletone

Mistletone proudly presents The Field, aka Swedish electronic music producer and DJ Axel Willner, returning to Australia to play a late-night, all-hardware live set for Melbourne Festival.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23: Melbourne Festival Hub, doors open 11pm. Tickets + more information here.

The sublime, minimal soundscapes of Stockholm-born, Berlin-based Axel Willner—aka The Field—have been wowing listeners ever since 2007, when the release of his debut album, From Here We Go Sublime, saw him hailed as a new prophet in the techno scene. A dreamy blend of beats, atmospheric electronic and snatches of 60s pop, Willner melds his complex layering of sound to blissful perfection.

Known for his playful, pop-inflected tunes, The Field’s solo show is a journey through the raw electronic side of his sound, encompassing work from From Here We Go Sublime and latest Cupid’s Head, performed live on the original hardware. Whether soaring in euphoria or throbbing with dense driving beats, the polished mastery of this singular talent is indisputable.

The Field sprung into existence in 2003 when Axel took to Buzz – a software program he still uses to make music today – to construct his ambient techno based on a stoic motorik and a perpetually rotating hook. He was picked up by Kompakt just a year later. His track ‘Love vs. Distance’ provided an early demonstration of how the Swede could take just four bars of sound and deftly deconstruct, alter and rebuild them to create a constantly changing canvas. His follow-up 2006 EP ‘Sun & Ice,’ imbued a sense of wandering expanse with tracks like ‘Over The Ice’ skipping along like skimmed stones over water.

It all came together in 2007 on the phenomenal success of debut LP From Here We Go Sublime, receiving a 9.0 and a place inside the Top 200 records of the decade by Pitchfork, as well as accolades from NME and the BBC. The Field embarked on his first tour including Pitchfork Music Festival, ATP, Sonar and Oya, trotting the globe armed with just a laptop. Come May 2009’s follow-up Yesterday & Today, Axel was joined by Dan Enqvist on bass, and Jesper Skarin on drums and went back on the road, including a first ever UK headlining circuit, a US tour support with The Juan Maclean and festival slots at Bestival, Roskilde and OFF Festival.

So to 2011 and the release of third album Looping State Of Mind, a release that came across as Axel’s most accomplished to date. “All the old influences are still there,” he admits, “but we’ve made a real attempt to grow the sound.”

2013 saw the release on Cupid’s Head, hailed by Resident Advisor as “one of Willner’s most affirming and beatific creations to date”.