1979: Remixed is made of remixes, passing the original tracks through diverse treatments, manipulations and arrangements which are not meaningless or absurd, sometimes revealing or bringing to light muted aspects of the original tracks.
Deru is the creative sound art project of electronic music designer Benjamin Wynn, located in Los Angeles. The trajectory of this project is quite plural and eclectic in nature, navigating on the territory of abstract minimal ambient as well as IDM. I’ve been really amazed by Deru’s latest opus 1979 (Friends of Friends, 2014) an organic ambient voyage marvelously built on fragile looped patterns, emotional then melancholic, decaying, somnambulant textures with slight touches of sublime.
1979: Remixed is made of remixes, passing the original tracks through diverse treatments, manipulations and arrangements which are not meaningless or absurd, sometimes revealing or bringing to light muted aspects of the original tracks. The dream-like and soothing peacefulness of 1979 is still here but the general musical tendency offers a more shoegazing dream pop variation to the ensemble. It works quite well, such as in the self-titled track. My favorite remix is maybe the powerful, emotionally intoxicating and bleak melancholic “Midnight in the garden with ghosts.” The sonic impact is put a step further and admits more dynamics than the original version of the tracks which stays beautifully minimalist in style. The unreleased track “Shine On Harvest Moon” is a strangely hypnotic-vocodized ambient piece surrounded by a vaporously lysergic and disturbing atmosphere. It features Jeremy Zuckerman on slide guitar. This album of remixes focuses the purpose on adventurous ghostly ambient music with a fancy for ethereal shoegaziness and challenging IDM. Don’t miss it.
1979: Remixed is available on Friends of Friends.
