Extended

A very tasty little limited edition here, available solely at the web shop at ultimate.com. (2012 edit: it’s now available almost everywhere, but still only digitally). What you get is more or less what the title suggests: exclusive, extended stuff from the master of deep, jugular downtempo. Air Song (8am Version) is a delight, with added vocals and guitar from the man himself, and Station 5 eases through you like a hot knife through butter.

The highlight, however, is Combinations– sixteen minutes of sheer lovability, intricate stuff that you get sucked right on inside of: it made me lose track of time the first time I heard it. Coupled with the 12-minute Detection, which features some background from various locations in Solar Fields’ native Göteborg, you’re looking at two stunning pieces of electronic music. Extended is a wonderful little album.

Quietly, Solar Fields has demonstrated that if you give him longer to tell a musical story, he’ll use that time and really make something genuinely special. With quality so high that the album’s marketing as a collectors-only limited edition may be erroneous, it really is worth getting online and checking this sucker out. Intelligent music that doesn’t alienate doesn’t come around that often, and for this reason alone this is something to feel a bit special about.