Saturday, 28 March 2020

Animat 'Undercurrents' Review








Artist: Animat



Title: Undercurrents



Label: Disco Gecko



Released: April 3rd










Following on from last years ‘All is Lost’, where Animat used extracts from the 2013 film about a man adrift on a life raft in the Indian Ocean, composed a new soundtrack. This E.P. delivers five fresh re-mixes from that album.


First up on re-mix duties is Professor Chill and his take on ‘Eight Days Earlier’ where he retains the basic laid back electro-acoustic sound of the original adding a little more emphasis to the bass and touches of minimalistic glitch. Following on electro-dub aficionados Pitch Black tackle ‘Calm after the Storm’ where the original placed the focus on Mediterranean guitar licks and gentle piano. Once again this is quite respectful to the original piece adding accompaniment dub fx and drum rolls.


Next up is Mark from Animat re-mixing ‘Sea State’ under his Darkly A.M. psuedonym. Whilst the original was something of a laid back piece of western fused reggae, here he adds some drive and lifts the piece into a more acidic and somewhat danceable version. Manchester trio Marconi Union join the throng with their take on ‘The Virginia Jean’ and whereas the original placed focus on the electric guitar licks they take their time building the intro before placing the emphasis on the piano.


Finally Sheffield duo Aysup take on what’s probably the least laid back track from original album with their Neptune’s Crazy Horses mix of ‘Neptune’s Horses’. Like Marconi Union before them they elongate the intro before the piece comes to life. Drawing on influences from Kraftwerk, Neu and other Krautrock bands.


To summarise Darkly A.M. aside these re-mixes take a subtle yet slightly different approach to the originals, at times injecting a little more life into them. For me on the whole I prefer the original album, which was all about a laid back soundtrack with moments of the dramatic attempting to mirror being alone and at the mercy of the elements. You on the other hand may feel differently and relish the additional input.


Reviewed by Woodzee


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