"Masterful second solo album from Walkabouts frontman Chris Eckman, which finds him returning to his roots and the folk settings of his earlier records. The long-serving Walkabouts' sound has become increasingly lavish in recent years. 'The Black Field', however, represents a move away from albums such as the orchestral 'Devil's Road' (1996) and 'Nighttown' (1997), and the elegiac, epic 'Trail of Stars' (1999) and 'Ended Up a Stranger' (2001), and a return to Eckman's roots and the folk settings of earlier Walkabouts records such as 'Cataract'(1989),'Rag and Bone' (1990) and 'Scavenger' (1991).
'The Black Field' takes its name and inspiration from a painting by Eckman's father-in-law, artist Nikolaj Beer, an earthy, but evocative landscape of a field in a storm in the twilight of a mid-winter's day. Eckman decided that he wanted to make his own version of 'The Black Field', and recorded the bulk of the album in two days in a tiny recording studio in Ljubljana, Slovenia."
John Clarkson, Penny Black Music
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