Twilight Fields

Twilight Fields – Demagogue

Canada’s Twilight Fields, the solo moniker of singer-songwriter Allister Thompson, has announced his new album ‘Songs from the Age of Ruin’, slated for release in early 2019. Ahead of this, he presents the first rather politically-charged single ‘Demagogue’, an expression of anti-populist sentiment.

Twilight Fields is truly a one-man show, with Thompson writing, playing, engineering, mixing, mastering and designing everything himself from his home studio in North Bay, Ontario.

‘Songs from the Age of Ruin’ is a warning to the present and an apology to a possible future. While Twilight Fields is best known for his blend of ambient, dream-pop and progressive rock influences, this album pays grateful homage to such artists as Billy Bragg, New Model Army, Killing Joke, Midnight Oil, and The Levellers, as well as other artists influencing his music like Leon Rosselson, Bob Dylan, Robert Wyatt, and Phil Ochs.

‘Songs from the Age of Ruin’ is also an uneasy but compelling song cycle that begins with the bombing of Hiroshima and the absurdities of the atomic age and proceeds to tackle such difficult topics as homelessness and economic inequalities (‘Lazarus’), the evils of populism and political repression (‘Demagogue’, ‘Taken Away’), the toxicity of social media communication (‘Offended’), animal rights (‘The Animal’s Song’), and the utter stupidity of war (‘Soldier Song’). It concludes with a three-part “climate change suite” (‘Loss’, ‘Barren Planet’, ‘Why Did We Do It?’) that lays bare the tragic human consequences of catastrophic climate change.

The album also contains two cover versions, including of Bruce Cockburn’s immortal classic ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ and Thin Lizzy’s ‘Holy War’.

“While growing up, certain passionate, activist musicians were very influential to me. So much so that I’d say they changed and shaped the person I would eventually become. There has never been a more crucial time for musicians to step up and add their voices to the chorus of reason necessary to take us back from the brink of total destruction,” says Allister Thompson.

“The year 2019 finds the human species standing at a crossroads, with only two possible directions: survival or extinction. Artists should contribute their strong and clear voices to dialogues that could lead to our survival and renewal.”

Allister Thompson has had a varied musical career, initially playing with Toronto-based glam-rock band Crash Kelly, together with Sean Kelly (now guitarist for Nelly Furtado), and opening for such notable artists as The Black Crowes and Alice Cooper. He later veered towards making traditional folk music, progressive rock and ambient music, recording several ambient rock albums as Twilight Fields and numerous albums of ambient/Krautrock/psychedelia under the monikers The Gateless Gate and Khan Tengri.

As of December 6, ‘Demagogue’ will be available via online stores and streaming platforms, including Spotify and iTunes, as well as Bandcamp. The full album ‘Song From The Age of Ruin’ LP will be released on February 1, 2019.

LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/twilightfields
http://twilightfields.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/gatelessgate1

Twilight Fields – When I Saw You

“Our Time Is Now” is the third album of original music by Twilight Fields of North Bay, Ontario, Canada. This is the song-based project of Allister Thompson (known in ambient music circles as The Gateless Gate).

Twilight Fields’ music is very much a throwback to the spiritually intense days of “big music” when bands like The Waterboys, The Church, and Big Country weren’t ashamed to try to make philosophical statements with their music.

This particular album mainly deals lyrically with the importance of and our need for unconditional love to navigate sorrow and loss in an increasingly confused world, whether it’s love between partners, siblings, parent and child, or human and other beings and the natural world.

It combines elements of the gentle psychedelia of late sixties/early seventies Beach Boys with influences from Kiwi and Aussie pop (The Go-Betweens, Crowded House), the smarter end of Brit-pop (James, Doves), and classic seventies singer-songwriters, along with sonic touches from post-punk, psych, post-rock, shoegaze, dream pop and progressive rock.

The album contains a cover of The Moody Blues’ 1986 classic “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” that mixes the mellotronic style of early Moodies with a hint of shoegaze.

About Twilight Fields
Twilight Fields is from Northern Canada and makes “ambient rock” with influences from progressive rock, ambient, dream-pop, psych-folk, and shoegaze. This music asks big questions about life and loss. Look for party-rock elsewhere.

LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/twilightfields
http://twilightfields.bandcamp.com
https://twitter.com/tfieldsband

Scroll to top