Solar Fields – Origin # 01

I think Origin #1 is a superb collection of Magnus's music. It shows and evolution of his taste and talents, and his ability to always deliver textures and soundscapes that transport the listener. Automatic Sun is by far my favorite track from Origin #1. My only complaint is that it is too short... I have everyone of Solar Fields discs, and though some take some time to get to know, the more I listen to them the more I come to realize Magnus may just be a genius.

Origing #1 took no time to get comfortable with. From the moment I heard Silent Walking, through Unite to the punctuation of that statement in Bigger Stream I was hooked.

Almost There, Next Waiting, Embraced and Going In, to me, all serve as a preamble to Automatic Sun. The previous four tracks completely stand on their own merits, but when taken collectively with Automatic Sun as the conclusion to the sentence, it is nearly perfect in my mind.

Reborn and OCT then finish the journey and it all ends up nicely at a point where if you start the music over again from the beginning, you can listen to Origin #1 for weeks on end, and I have.

First time I hear about this artist and first time I hear this album. It is simply perfect.

I don't know what some of this pessimism is about, as I find Origin # 01 to be brilliant. I must stress that one shouldn't take these reviews too seriously, rather as subjective perceptions. I took the negative reviews into too much consideration, and it withheld me from listening to the album. Now that I have listened to it, I think it's beautiful. Expansive soundscapes, textures, and melodies with Solar Fields's trademark luminous vibe. I also dig the fact that Magnus decided to go back through time to put together songs for this journey, as it gives Origins # 01 more depth in time. Another thing I like to do is try not to compare his albums, as I view each one as it's own worthy expression. The only thing I look for out of Solar is his luminous, expansive, and top-notch quality, which he never fails to deliver.

This wasn't meant to be a review of the album since I haven't had time to listen to all of it through more than few times, but Reborn is such an awesome track--not sure how you can't love it. So powerful!

The first words for this album are difficult. The idea behind it is to show unreleased material of Solar Fields during a rather significant time span. The idea is very good but is the end result good?

I would say, for the Solar Fields' level, no. This is one of his mediocre albums which do not impress as much as some of his other work. A lot of the tracks here are, for the downtempo genre, OK, but for the set-up standard just not good enough.

Track 1 is forgettable and mediocre with nothing really catching your attention. Track 2 is one of the three excellent tracks here, it is hypnotic and evolves just like you would expect from Magnus. Track 3 is a decent track, not good as the previous one but here you can hear Magnus singing (although I wouldnt classify this as singing) and it is a good attempt at creating something different and original. The next tracks until Embraced though are also average and not memorable. Embraced and Going In, however, are the two other gorgeous beauties that actually make this worth. Excellent production and execution.

The last track is one very odd piece of work. It is pretty long (almost 16 min) and has quite a lot elements incorporated in it. I haven't listened enough to this to say is it great inspired work or just 16 minutes of sounds evolving to nothing. It starts very trancey and then it ends like a rock song. Weird work but definitely thumbs up attempting to produce something original. This might grow on me later on for sure.

Overall it is a safe purchase if you like ambient. The sound is good but not on Solar Fields' top level. It is just above average. As a downside outside of the music on the CD I have to add that Ultimae released this on Digifile and not on their usual Digipaks. There is no booklet, no beautiful CD digipak, its just not the same quality as a lot of their other releases. I hope this is just an exception among with the H.U.V.A. Network's Live at Glastonbury because this just downgrades the level of Ultimae.

No, no, no Magnus.. Where is the sound I loved you for? Sorry, but your last 2 albums are boring. I thought Origin would be much more interesting than altered, Cause here are your old tracks. But after listening to Origin I conjecture these are the tracks that were disapprovaled in your previous albums. I am dissapointed :(