Matthew Peters has been making music for a long time as a cellist (his
cello lines have been used by Leafcutter John and Venetian Snares) and
as a classical music producer. Stepping out of the shadows and into
the spotlight, he’s offering his first solo work with the 12″ When I’m
6. Filled out with remixes by Jason Forrest (aka Donna Summer), End,
Mothboy, Equivalent and Chaonaut, the record displays Peters’ talent
in an unspoiled environment as well as providing grist for the remix
wheel as each version of the track retains the creeping nostalgia of
the original while reshaping and remaking the core mood.
Donna Summer’s spliced disco can’t escape the underlying melancholy of
Peters’ original effort, though the shuffling and cut-up beats try
real hard to inject some Go-Go juice into the nostalgic melody line.
MC Equivalent loops the original into a reversed drone track and adds
his rap, the sound of children playing, and a Mark Isham-esque trumpet
to make a track that is redolent with the pale despair of the
burned-out inner city. While End and Mothboy both apply their
recognizable hands to the track (End with jangly percussion and
Mothboy with dark sub-sonic rumbles), Chaonaut offers the longest
remix with “When I’m Seven,” a seven-minute recreation that adds a
female Japanese voice that is alternately seductive and processed to a
chipmunk chatter.
It’s either a testament to the clever selection of remixers, their
deft ability to make new things from individual pieces, or a
reflection on the depth of possibilities within Peters’ original track
that the six tracks of the 12″ never sound like iterations of the same
basic theme. There’s a wild variety in Mad e.p.’s “When I’m Six” 12,”
a heterogeneous mix that says: “We are all the same and yet we are all
different.”
When I’m 6 is out now on Ad Noiseam.
