This is the first in a series of releases from Fields We Found, the catalyst being a period of illness which prompted Alex Gold to focus in on the things that gave him joy, including the process of making music. The overall series is called resolve / relate.

The four tracks here are inspired by nostalgia for Gold’s halcyon nights spent clubbing at places like Fabric. Each has the relentless chugging rhythms of especially solid techno sets, offset by minimal interventions – a cluster of notes approximating a repeating melody, deep bass lines, oscillator sweeps, unfurling drones, tuned percussion – that add to a sense of forward momentum. The EP is rounded out with a remix of ‘rhythm structure 1.1’ by Brendan Moeller, who recently released an album on Gold’s Quiet Details imprint.

Each of these pieces are, however, draped with a sort of foggy impenetrability, like the club is choked with dry ice. The figures of fellow clobbers are reduced to mere shuffling outlines, while strobes and lights create jagged shapes as they try to cut through the haze. It approximates both the fallibility of memory, as filtered through our nostalgic recollections, and the vibrancy of a club situation where the only thing that matters is the trance-like state created by extreme repetition.

Gold’s practice is entirely live, improvising and recording direct to tape. This gives tracks like ‘rhythm structure 1.2’ a spontaneity, almost like he is helming a DJ set and constantly keeping an ear on each track’s energy. ‘rhythm structure 1.3’ is this writer’s personal favourite, opening with white noise-tinged sequences that whine discordantly, prefacing a delicate suite of notes that slowly emerge from the background and assert themselves as the unswerving focal point of the track. As they do so, a sense of extreme, swirling turbulence begins to become obvious down in the foundation layer – restless, unplaceable sounds; sibilant noise; tension; discordancy.

A powerful – yet restrained – signal of intent from Gold.

https://fieldswefound.bandcamp.com/album/rhythm-structures-01

rhythm structures by Fields We Found is released March 19 2025.

Words: Mat Smith

(c) 2025 Further.