Confield

Confield
Studio album by
Autechre
Released30 April 2001
Recorded1999–2001
Genre
Length62:00
LabelWarp
WARP128
ProducerAutechre
Autechre chronology
Peel Session 2
(2000) 		Confield
(2001) 		Gantz Graf
(2002)

Confield is the sixth album by British electronic music duo Autechre, released on 30 April 2001 by Warp Records.

Background and production

With Confield, Sean Booth and Rob Brown largely abandoned the warm ambient sounds of their earlier works such as Amber and Tri Repetae in favour of more chaotic and abstract sound palettes and methods of composition that they had been pursuing with LP5, EP7, and Peel Session 2. Confield saw the experimental use of computer programs, specifically Max/MSP, to form the basis of songs instead of stand-alone synthesizers. According to Booth, "Most of Confield came out of experiments with Max that weren't really applicable in a club environment."[1]

Like EP7 before it and their 2003 release Draft 7.30, Booth and Brown make use of generative sequences on Confield. However, in an interview following the release of Draft 7.30, Booth explained that although the beats they create using generative sequences may seem completely random to some, he and Brown exercised tight control over the limits and rules of what the beats could do.

"[On Confield] you have something that some people would call random, but I would say is quantifiable," Booth said. "It seems that for a lot of people, if they hear something that doesn't sound regular, they assume it's random. If live musicians were playing it, they'd probably call it jazz or something. But the fact that it's coming out of a computer, as they perceive it, somehow seems to make it different. For me it's just messing around with a lot of analogue sequencers and drum machines. It's like saying, 'I want this to go from this beat to that beat over this amount of time, with this curve, which is shaped according to this equation.'"

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic82/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Alternative Press8/10[4]
Blender[5]
The Guardian[6]
Mojo[7]
NME8/10[8]
Pitchfork8.8/10[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
Sputnikmusic[11]
Spin7/10[12]

Pitchfork gave the album an 8.8/10, claiming that, "For those willing to take these times in stride, Confield promises elegant production, accessibility in moderation, and one of the most enveloping, thought-provoking listening experiences to come forth from leftfield this year." However, AllMusic, giving the album only a 3/5, argued that Confield was "a record to respect, not enjoy," a viewpoint expressed by other review outlets. The Washington Post's Mark Jenkins said that the duo had progressed from "making music that sounds odd" to "craft[ing] its music to sound wrong", further commenting that the pair now sounded "ragged and fidgety" rather than "smooth and pulsing" as in the past. He said many of the songs sounded as though the CD player was skipping, and said the album was more madness than method.[13] Fiona Shepherd of The Scotsman held a similar view, saying the album sounded like "a malfunctioning dishwasher or a CD jumping. Forever."[14]

Despite the record's controversial nature, the album scores an average of 82/100 at Metacritic based on ten reviews, the highest average for any Autechre album on the site.[2]

Covers

In 2009, chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound recorded a version of "Cfern" on their album a/rhythmia.[15]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."VI Scose Poise"6:57
2."Cfern"6:41
3."Pen Expers"7:08
4."Sim Gishel"7:14
5."Parhelic Triangle"6:03
6."Bine"4:41
7."Eidetic Casein"6:12
8."Uviol"8:35
9."Lentic Catachresis"8:29
Total length:62:00
Japanese bonus track
No.TitleLength
10."MCR Quarter" (Recorded live at Band On The Wall, Manchester 1998)11:02
Total length:73:02

References

  1. ^ Tingen, Paul (April 2008). "In producing their complex, abstract electronica, Autechre have taken the idea of the studio as an instrument to new extremes..." SoundOnSound.com. Retrieved 24 December 2008.
  2. ^ a b "Reviews for Confield by Autechre". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  3. ^ Bush, John. "Confield – Autechre". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  4. ^ "Autechre: Confield". Alternative Press (156): 63. July 2001.
  5. ^ They've all but abandoned 4/4 grooves, discarded bass as an inefficient distraction and fractured their beats into splintery beatlets that detonate in flurries. [Jun/Jul 2001, p.105]
  6. ^ Wyse, Pascal (27 April 2001). "Autechre: Confield (Warp)". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  7. ^ The mind-boggling intricacies and moody, broody sound-sculpting on tracks like Pen Expers find Autechre zooming off, leaving their followers eating cosmic dust. [May 2001, p.110]
  8. ^ Naylor, Tony (11 May 2001). "Autechre : Confield". NME. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  9. ^ Seymour, Malcolm III (17 April 2001). "Autechre: Confield". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  10. ^ Sisario, Ben (2004). "Autechre". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 29. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  11. ^ EMERITUS, Pon (6 February 2023). "Autechre - Confield". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  12. ^ Weisbard, Eric (August 2001). "Autechre: Confield / Built to Spill: Ancient Melodies of the Future". Spin. 17 (8): 136–38. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  13. ^ Jenkins, Mark (25 May 2001). "Autechre 'Confield' Warp For A..." The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  14. ^ Shepherd, Fiona (27 April 2001). "New releases". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  15. ^ "Alarm Will Sound: a/rhythmia (2009) Track listing". 23 July 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  • Confield at the official Warp discography (features audio clips).