From Here We Go Sublime, the 2007 debut album from the Field, set the bar pretty high: after all, where do you go after you've hit sublime? I'm pretty sure that "more sublime" is a logical impossibility -- although, if he were Spinal Tap, there would always be "none more sublime," I suppose. Sensibly, the Field, aka Sweden's Axel Willner, don't seem to have pulled any muscles trying to outdo their last album's out-of-body bliss-out. (I can confirm this firsthand: Willner lives across the street from me in Berlin, and last time I saw him at our neighborhood watering hole, the demure, bearded redhead was walking upright as usual. For all the otherworldly qualities of his music, it's hard to think of a musician who looks more, well, normal.)
Like the Field's debut, Yesterday and Today takes bright, shimmering samples of pop music and then stretches them over driving drum-machine rhythms that are in it for the long haul; running 8 or 10 or even 15 minutes long, these tracks are as sensuous as heat mirages on a sun-baked freeway plateau. Their repetitions become almost delirious, conjuring more fantastical images with every mile. For the most part, there's no telling where Willner got his starry-eyed source materials, with two notable exceptions. "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" uses huge chunks of the Korgis' song of the same name (perhaps better known from Beck's cover version, used in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind); "The More That I Do" whips Cocteau Twins' "Lorelei" into a creamy froth that makes the most of Liz Fraser's heavenly coo. It might seem a little easy -— after all, the Cocteaus' dew-jeweled shoegaze is one of the most obvious precursors for the Field's Ambien ambient. But then, there's something refreshingly honest about it as well, suggesting that Willner has gotten over the clever irony that led him to turn Lionel Richie's "Hello" into "Over the Ice," Willner's signature track to date. Indeed, the most surprising thing about Yesterday and Today might be the fact that Cologne's minimalist kingpins Kompakt licensed it to Anti Records — since when was Ani Difranco a techno fan? But if the Field are a one-trick pony, Yesterday and Today shows off a luscious coat of fur — and the stamina of a thoroughbred.
Despite his home on Ninja Tune, Fink, aka Fin Greenall, doesn't really make electronic music — at least not under that particular alias. As Sideshow, he's responsible for deep and dubby downtempo on Will Saul's Aus and Simple labels. But Fink, despite the kinda creepy name, is all about acoustic heartbreak. Greenall's got a gravelly, resonant voice that will make you weep, and his songwriting only gets stronger with every record. On Sort of Revolution, the fourth Fink album, it's mostly just Greenall and his guitar, with delicately multitracked vocals and subtle electronic details to flesh out skeletal atmospheres reminiscent of Nick Drake or Elliott Smith. Just don't listen to this alone, if you find yourself in a funk. Actually, I take that back. This is music made for wallowing.
John Daly's debut album, Sea & Sky, comes closer to dance music, but it's still plenty moody. Having appeared more or less out of nowhere in 2006, with two releases on his own Feel Music label, Ireland's Daly has steadily built a rep for delivering emotive, hypnotic, disco-influenced house music, both there and on labels like Plak, Drumpoet Community and Francois K's Wave Music. Sea & Sky gathers those tracks and more for regular folks that don't buy 12-inch vinyl, which turns out to be a wise move. While Daly's music is calibrated for warm-up sets and chillout sessions, it works wonders at home, where Italo-disco synths and coolly plucked guitars stretch out with the inviting shine of a plush sofa. He keeps the tempo slow, the key minor and the melodies yearning, like some luscious combination of Giorgio Moroder and Massive Attack. Whether you're washing up or making out, Sea & Sky ought to make domestic comforts feel even cozier.
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