Field Rotation - Licht Und Schatten (Fluid Audio, 2009)

I've increasingly fallen out of love with ambient and electronic music, over the past few years. I rarely seek either style, although I do still keep up with ambient and electronic artists of whom I'm already a fan. That said, I was more than surprised when I blindly downloaded Field Rotation’s 2009 album Licht Und Schatten.

Working out of Kiel, North Germany, Field Rotation (real name Christopher Berg) composes warm ambient textures that flourish with electronic pulses and blips. The movement created by those flourishes, pulses and blips, despite Field Rotation's choice to use dissonant percussion, allows him to avoid the typical repetitive and sometimes even droning character one might instinctively associate with ambient music. Licht Und Schatten's seven tracks range from five to eleven minutes, but with the consistent motion that the aforementioned electronic effects (which never overstay their welcomes) create, listeners may barely notice how long the songs actually are.

If you don't like the cold, alienating effects of most ambient or electronic music, perhaps Licht Und Schatten will change your mind. Licht Und Schatten palpitates in a way I haven't heard in much down-to-mid tempo ambient or electronic music besides that of jazzy British electronic artist/producer Four Tet.

Standout tracks: "Lichtbrechung"; "Polarlicht"