A quiet, bass-fueled soundtrack, where Maslen’s whispery vocal meets a cavalcade of thick drone head-on. It’s a tiny mile long steam train in the vast scape, terminating at a distant point on the horizon.
[Release page] On this record, a companion to the earlier released Equestrienne (Council Folk, 2009), London-based Riz Maslen has invited a slew of producers and others to remodel some of the latest works of longtime project Neotropic. The results are so refined and complex as the opener “Celaphane Road (A Dancing Beggar Remix)” attests. A quiet, bass-fueled soundtrack, where Maslen’s whispery vocal meets a cavalcade of thick drone head-on. It’s a tiny mile long steam train in the vast scape, terminating at a distant point on the horizon.
“Sirens Sister (Rusty’s Housekeeping Mix)” rumbles and boils with rusty, percolating sound effects subsiding and rising like a cryptic stage act, a mesmerizing pastiche of clanging bells and murmur. As the record plays on the darkly tinged “Sometimes (Lady Husk Remix)” has more in common with early Goldfrapp (a certain influenced follower) draws clear lines in its range of moodiness and stance. For those looking for a lift there are no shortages of more upbeat tracks like “Tall Fences (The Electric Fence Mix)” and “Love & Hate (DJ Stephen R. Remix)” which treat the originals to a distortion between groove and storytelling. And worldly rhythms are explored on the thick-as-thieves “Party Fears & The Alcohol Loves You (Small Fish with Spine Remix)” and the raspy post-techno “Hezbollah Girl (10sui Remix).” Here we see a sophisticated take on club beats without the cloying need to coax via anything but sheer sweat. Elsewhere you see a shift in the energy when “Muddy Water (Howpee Remix)” starts off. Sounding as good as anything excerpted from the best of The Knife’s catalogue, its moody and a bit atonal with only hints of vocal and shallow strings. The static and sunny vibe of “In These Days (Deltason Remix)” draws from the shoegazers of yore without recycling more than giving back. Boasting a psychedelic rocketship ride on the bonus cut “Carpet” the scene here is set.
Equestrienne Remixes is out now on Architects + Hereos. [Release page]
