It's been awhile. I've been busy on numerous fronts. The first and most important is that my wife and I are expecting a child in early March. I am very thankful that so far everything has gone smoothly and everyone is healthy.
The second is that I am learning to play the piano. We inherited an upright piano a couple of years ago, which I have been practicing on. It will be a long slow road, but I am very excited for the potential it brings. I feel like the mouse and keyboard is a very low-bandwidth conduit for getting the musical ideas out of my brain. Plus, it is just a joy to physically, directly, acoustically produce music with my body.
So, don't expect any new releases or performances any time soon. It's time for some woodshedding.
A nice review from e|i magazine's Darren Bergstein, part of a GoS label profile:
"Laptopper William Fields has only two prior releases to his credit, but third time must be a charm, because Timbre is a markedly assured piece of work, reflective of the glitch but not enslaved to it. Point of fact: Fields is not only obsessed with timbre (and texture) but revels in it, exploring a wide world of sounds as his fingers do the walkin' across the keyboard (or the mousepad, as it were). Fields considers himself a composer, and this is what separates him from a myriad of individuals getting up close and personal with their software. Sounds appear to be consciously placed rather than slathered on haphazardly; they fibrillate, glide, pulse delicately or suddenly buzz brightly, a horde of sonic fireflies peppering the night air. "Brechia (Erosion)" is particularly engrossing and recalls at moments some of Taylor Deupree's "abrasive" works, though the tonal colors illuminating the pop-py fields suggest melodic tendencies that too often fail to arise in the genre. Contrasts abound throughout, categorical divides are bridged, clichés abandoned—take note of the sparkling chime-like notes that imbue "Seaglass," which are just plain beautiful, echoing out from burrs of runout groove noise, or the lush machine hums of "Hivernal" as they surge amongst the sampled fauna of an autumnal forest. Timbre is a worthwhile follow-up to his previous Branches, and in execution parts of it is leagues ahead of some better-known colleagues' work; I look forward to further Fields recordings with much interest."