Solar Fields – Altered (Second Movements)

First time i listened to this altered movements i liked it and believed it was going to be very good .
Maybe that was because i was so familiar with movements already and simply knew the melodies .
However heres my opinion now from spending many repeat sessions with this album ..
Its like no other , offering a warm thick atmospheric cloud of euphoria .
Play it any time on any occasion and it simply becomes addictive , maybe its the subtleties of the bass warmth but i do know it has found a place in my brain and seems to be particularly suited to winter comfort between the ears )
Really its about Solar Fields unique sound creation ..
This is Hot and not just because of its blissful bass )

This is like a continuation from the story that is "Movements", this review is my imagination of the transition between the first and second albums. This is how I see this album.

Many decades have past since the dark, yet beautiful lands of the first 'Movements' have been explored by anyone. The wanderer from the first album no longer exists, and is ed by no one. The world has changed, something has happened, and there are less people in the world then there once was (minimalism). But someone who has not seen another human for many years, who happens to be a descendant from the explorer in the first 'Movements', is preparing herself for a long journey to a place that has been whispered in her mind for many years, the same sanctuary that is 'Movements'. The woman, so much alike to the first explorer, could not believe her eyes at the sight that the images in her mind were true. Something was different though, it was darker, and seemed lonelier, and did not recept the same atmosphere from her visions.
The sanctuary had lost much of its strength, but through recognizing the new explorer to the one of the past, played its music to the best of its potential, and the explorer thought it to be music of utter equanimity. She ventured through the same places as the first explorer, but shared a different, darker experience.

Let's be honest here: "Altered - second movements" is not as good as its predecessor, but that is a tough feat for anyone, and a lesser artist would have failed miserably. However, Solar Fields is up to the task, and he revisits and reworks an album many considered the pinnacle of his career. While I won't discuss whether or not that statement has any merit to it, regardless of it all, this is a very good album, to say the very least. To dismiss it as a quick and lazy attempt of recapturing the magic of his previous album would be not chosing your words wisely.
Naturally, people have built up certain expectations, and after an album as magnificent as "Movements" was, there was little Magnus Bigersson could do in order to please everyone. But in my honest opinion, this wasn't the wisest of all choices he could have made. Personally, I really enjoyed the last album, and have strong feelings about tracks like Circles Of Motion, Sky Trees and Das Bungalow - all of which had that something which grabbed me, and unfortunately that little "extra part" is seldom poured from the last album into this one. Note that it's not a negative critic or a dismissal of his effort, but merely an opinion I am entitled to. Keep in mind that "Movements" is my favorite Solar Fields album, so when I heard what's up next, I hoped for something which could exceed it, but reality was a tad different.
Think of "Altered - second movements" as a slightly less melodic take on "Movements", as someone before me correctly pointed out. Style and sound wise this is the closest release of his to "Leaving home".
To conclude, I would rate this album lower than the previous one, but it should not be a reason for anyone not to give it a chance, especially if you enjoyed "Movements". Personally, I liked the original versions of the tracks more than their respective reinterpretations, but with the thought in mind that this one has been out for only about two months, there is plenty of time for it to grow on me. The biggest disappointment on this album was Bngl.w, which transforms my favorite tune from the last album into a lost and lazy seven minute interlude, while Insolate and Our Blue Stones are very nice surprises. The opener can make Sol run for its money any day of the week, and may just be the best track here, to my ears at least.
There you have it, from someone who loved "Movements" as much as I did, my expectations were not met. Personally, I would have preferred if Magnus took some time off in order to conceive something remarkable, great like he already did a few times in the past. Remixes, reworks, whatever - nothing and no one can ignore the quality here, although I don't see this as a good place to start with Solar Fields, and I don't see it climbing many people's list as a career accomplishment. For a less talented artist maybe, for Solar Fields, no way. He already set the bar so high, people except only the best time after time. This is close, but no cigar.

All reviews I read here somehow comment on the "remix" nature of this album. Unlike "Extended", which was an "extension" of Leaving Home, "Altered" works more as a reinterpretation of "Movements", an "alteration" of the original tracks.
Personnaly I was a bit disappointed by "Movements" which I find sometimes too much as "easy" music, too melodical, I don't know.... For me, Leaving Home is the BEST SF album ever, because it reaches a fine balance between harmony/melody and spacey structure. Blue Moon Station is too much on the "structure" side, and "movements" too much on the harmony/melody side, and I find sometimes those harmonies/melodies to be a bit easy.
I was really gladly surprised with Altered-Second Movements, cause I didn't know what to expect. I love SF music in all senses, and I think Altered is a very mature and interesting piece of music. SF sound has evolved a lot since his first album Reflective Frequencies to something more and more melodic, less and less experimental or destructured. Altered reaches a nice balance between the "Movements" melodies and a spacey ambient approach. The tracks are not remixes, they are reinterpretations of the original pieces. It's like this is a dream, and each track is a reminisence of the original, like in a dream, when you something from reality, but in a distant way, like an old memory. Each track is telling you: " this song? listen to it again, but its playing somewhere very very far away, and you only get small pieces of it, embeded in new sounds from space". This album is in fact very VERY nostalgic. and I think it's great.

Comparing to "Movements", this album has really few interest. Of course, it's good and it has the Solar Fields touch, but it sounds really lazy and brings nothing more (and even equal) to its model. The problem is not the spacey style, I love it, but it's the big lack of originality and, to my mind, effort. Lazy, I said. It definitly is. The weakest Solar Fields by far.

Such a marvelous album. Can't wait for the winter to hit us, so I can just lie in bed in the dark listening to this <3

Magnus Birgersson is a musical genius, and I do not use the word lightly. Anything with his name on it is worth checking out. That goes even moreso for anything with the Solar Fields moniker attached to it. The name Solar Fields stands for some of the greatest music in the world being made right now.

The issue has been raised about this being a remix album. I have no problem with great music being remixed - in fact, it has led to some of my all time favorite works. Great music is great music, regardless, correct? If it sounds good and fresh, who cares? I will give an example. The SF song "Insum" off of "Leaving Home" is a *fantastic* track. It is quite simply a thing of beauty to cherish. The remix of this song that appears on Ambient Planet 2 might even, somehow, be better. In essence, instead of one fantastic song, you now have two. Sounds good to me.

Which brings us to Second Movements. Movements was such a great album, it would be almost a challenge to remix it badly. While this album is not as great as I had hoped, it's still so good you cannot in good conscience it up.

The first track is Sol redone. I don't care how many times Sol is redone, I'll listen to them all, it's an amazing track and time spent listening to it is time well spent. Overall, Seconds Movements is very laid back and mellow, so this interpretation of Sol is more laid back, but still fantastic. I figured nothing could top this because Sol was the best track for me on Movements. I was wrong however.

Other highlights: Feel takes a while to unfold but it is a worthy complement to one of my other favorite tracks on Movements. Rediscovering is great, even better in my opinion than the original.

My absolute favorite track on this album is Track 5. Probably not a Top 5 SF track (try making that list, it's difficult!) but a Top 10 I believe. It has celestial majesty, it feels like the sound of the galaxies singing.

Disappointments: The Road to Nothingness was my second favorite track on Movements, a very powerful one, and this mix which I was greatly looking forward to feels uninspired and a bit lazy. Also, Bngl.w has a good interlude but overall is not as good as it should have been.

Anyway, this album is required listening, out of 100 I'd give it an 86. It's Solar Fields! Even the lesser works are comparatively great.