Solar Fields - Blue Moon Station

Overall, Solar Fields' sophmore album is slightly more upbeat than "Reflective frequencies". First of all, it sounds more down to earth to me. The spaced out attitude and far reaching sounds and effects have been toned down in favor of more straight forward trance; warm and analog melodic leads, occasional 4/4 percussion and a flow to the album which makes it an awkward listen to go through while in a horizontal posistion. Don't get me wrong though, the ambience is still here, though, just that it has been carefully blended with broken beat patterns, sounds of falling rain, old school goaesque melodies and other interesting stuff. It just may be that "Blue moon station" is Magnus Bigersson's most experimental piece of work, with a broader amount of territory covered than on his other albums. It's a quality listen throughout, but my main gripe with it is how the tracks have been arranged. I mean, placing fast tracks like Magic Eye and Infection 268-7 halfway through the album, just before the dubbed out and deep Magnetic Air is a glorious misstep. Just when you think the music would pick up, it sits back down. Majestic Feeling is so swell though. It starts out so erratic and uncontrolled with rabid percussion, only to transform into a mesmerizing ambient tune. And Solar Fields pulls it off with the same ease I eat my cereals with every morning. At the six-something mark he introduces this waterfall sound, and then after a while, the initial percussion is brought back into the track. Ah, the beauty! The title track has tribal drum programming with subtle melodies throughout, while Planet Zoo relies on quiet percussion with hypnotic and gentle melodies freely floating around. Third Time (A Version) follows in the footsteps of Planet Zoo, with a winning combination of light drum kicks colliding with superb melody work.
"Blue moon station" is a worthwhile listen, especially for those who want more challenge and ecclectic attitude in their downtempo, which goes beyond beatless drones or spiritual 'mantra' stuff eager to sound enlightened, or whatever. Regardless of how well executed this album may be, it's uneven at places, and in addition to that, my honest opinion is that Solar Fields is at home the most with pure, self directing, drifting and hovering ambient stuff, as presented on his "Leaving home" and "Extended" albums. This is way above average, but not quite there yet.