imo one of the most impressive progressive psytrance tracks ever made.
From Solar Field's 2007 album EarthShine. Spectral Nation has an interesting arrangement with hints of ambient, but suddenly it eschews the ambiance in favor of straightforward, full-on psytrance. It feels like two competing tracks: one that is soothing, "chill," and atmospheric, and one that is minimalistic yet highly energetic.
The first transition from one to the other can be heard at 02:40, which signals the end of the intro. From 02:40 to about 04:40 it's full-on psytrance with not much going on. Then, something of a "square synth" appears in the background that gives the track a techier feeling. The beautiful atmospheric track returns at 05:40, with the string that eventually overtakes the other sounds. The tech, full-on psytrance comes back during the break at 06:50, where the track returns to its stripped-down form with just the techy square synth and no melodies. However, tension rises from the bass drop. Clearly something will happen - the track is preparing for its climax. The strings from the chill, atmospheric track become barely audible at about 07:45, and they steadily overtake the song just as they had done previously. But! the strings suddenly disappear at 08:22. What is going on? What direction will this track take?
The strings return at 08:45, this time with a more uplifting chord progression. Then, with a wave of sound of strings, rapid ambient melodies, and the energy of full-on psytrance, Spectral Nation climaxes at about 09:20. This is what Solar Fields has been building up to for the past 9 minutes, quickly shifting from soothing/chill/atmospheric to full-on psytrance and then back. 09:20 to approx 10:15 is easily one of the best sound arrangements by Solar Fields, and you can tell he poured all his emotions into this part.
The last section after the climax gets rid of the high hats and the techy sound that was present throughout the track, allowing the listener to focus on the melodies. Then, at 10:40, the track starts its melodic outro, where all you can hear is the melodies and ambient sounds Solar Fields purposefully hid from the beginning.
It's a brilliant track that I never knew how to interpret until the time of this writeup, I loved thinking of it in terms of two competing tracks, where one quickly fades and the other takes over, then both of them combine to create the beautiful climax.
From Solar Field's 2007 album EarthShine. Spectral Nation has an interesting arrangement with hints of ambient, but suddenly it eschews the ambiance in favor of straightforward, full-on psytrance. It feels like two competing tracks: one that is soothing, "chill," and atmospheric, and one that is minimalistic yet highly energetic.
The first transition from one to the other can be heard at 02:40, which signals the end of the intro. From 02:40 to about 04:40 it's full-on psytrance with not much going on. Then, something of a "square synth" appears in the background that gives the track a techier feeling. The beautiful atmospheric track returns at 05:40, with the string that eventually overtakes the other sounds. The tech, full-on psytrance comes back during the break at 06:50, where the track returns to its stripped-down form with just the techy square synth and no melodies. However, tension rises from the bass drop. Clearly something will happen - the track is preparing for its climax. The strings from the chill, atmospheric track become barely audible at about 07:45, and they steadily overtake the song just as they had done previously. But! the strings suddenly disappear at 08:22. What is going on? What direction will this track take?
The strings return at 08:45, this time with a more uplifting chord progression. Then, with a wave of sound of strings, rapid ambient melodies, and the energy of full-on psytrance, Spectral Nation climaxes at about 09:20. This is what Solar Fields has been building up to for the past 9 minutes, quickly shifting from soothing/chill/atmospheric to full-on psytrance and then back. 09:20 to approx 10:15 is easily one of the best sound arrangements by Solar Fields, and you can tell he poured all his emotions into this part.
The last section after the climax gets rid of the high hats and the techy sound that was present throughout the track, allowing the listener to focus on the melodies. Then, at 10:40, the track starts its melodic outro, where all you can hear is the melodies and ambient sounds Solar Fields purposefully hid from the beginning.
It's a brilliant track that I never knew how to interpret until the time of this writeup, I loved thinking of it in terms of two competing tracks, where one quickly fades and the other takes over, then both of them combine to create the beautiful climax.
