In the 17th century, a group of soldiers and their academic hostage eat psychedelic mushrooms in A Field in England. In so doing, they’re convinced that they’ve uncovered the powers of divination, becoming enspelled in the process. Jim Williams uses a mixture of traditional English folk songs and dark industrial drone to show the stark contrast between the rustic Interregnum period of English history and magic-induced psychedelia and madness.
The folk elements establish the setting, 17th century England. They also connect the viewer to the characters, some of whom have no interest in magic or the divine and solely wish to escape the English civil war and find refuge in the bottom of a glass at the nearest pub, perhaps singing a drinking song or two in the process. In short, Williams’ use of folk makes the film relatable through a definite period and characters as real today as they were 400 years ago.
The shifts to dark drone and ambient destroy this familiarity. What was once a somber acoustic ballad or playful nursery rhyme decays into the drone of harsh metallic whirring, industrial noise, or synthetic horns and wails. These sounds, obviously, did not exist during the 17th century, effectively creating an alternate world that devours and regurgitates the characters in bouts of madness.
Williams uses these two contrasting genres to parallel A Field in England‘s: devout period piece (folk) and unravelling psychedelia (drone). Williams alternates between the two so seamlessly that the listener, like the characters themselves, loses track of which ‘world’ it now inhabits.