"When Axel Willner went to Stockholm's Funky Chicken food truck last February, he only expected to leave with a burger. While waiting, Willner AKA the Field, artisan of looping minimal techno masterpieces noticed another Axel standing two places behind him. This was unlikely enough given the unpopularity of the grandpa-ish name amid 40-something Swedish men. I was like, oh, how will they call our burgers now? says Willner."
"Unlikelier still, not least given how out of the way the spot is, the Axel was fellow Scandi club music pioneer Axel Boman, co-founder of the joyous dance label Studio Barnhus. They got chatting during the long wait. He asked if I had any music, what am I doing, because I had been silent for a very long time, says Willner. He left with an invitation to send Boman some tracks, which eventually resulted in a new label deal and his first record since 2018, Now You Exist."
"Willner's absence had broken a run of immaculate albums released almost every two years, ever since the opulent, emotional, meticulously sampled rush of 2007's From Here We Go Sublime made him an overnight sensation. He fine-tooled that ricocheting plushness across his six-LP catalogue, from bringing in a live band on 2011's Looping State of Mind to a darker, sleeker refinement on 2013's Cupid's Head. His last record, the tender Infinite Moment, was intended to offer comfort during a hopeless time."
"By the time he finished touring it in late 2019, he was done with road life. I realised it's maybe not the best thing for me, because to be honest, I'm quite shy and I don't like to be the centre of attention, says Willner, 48. True to form, he declines to put his camera on as he talks from his home in Berlin, where he's lived since 2008, and answers questions openly, but efficiently. And I don't really like to travel, and I realised quite directly that I'm in the wrong business. These days, Willner is in the culinary business: a lifelong food obsessive, he joined a friend's company to"
Axel Willner, known as the Field, went to a Stockholm food truck expecting only a burger. While waiting, he noticed another man named Axel standing nearby and they began talking. The other Axel was Axel Boman, a Scandinavian club music pioneer and co-founder of Studio Barnhus. Willner had been silent musically for a long time, and Boman asked about his music and what he was doing. Willner sent tracks, which led to a label deal and his first release since 2018, Now You Exist. Willner previously released albums nearly every two years, building a six-LP catalogue with emotional, sampled techno. After touring Infinite Moment in 2019, he stopped road life, citing shyness and discomfort with attention, and later moved into the culinary business.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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