Alex Smoke - Remix EP
Alex Smoke’s 2016 album for R&S Records, Love over Will, signalled a new phase of deep artistry for the stalwart Scottish producer. The acclaimed record plumbed the depths ofslow-burn melancholia; a subsequent R&S Records collection of reworks and dubs teased apart the album’s intricate sound design and textural word play. Now two years later, a pair of sought-after but as-yet unreleased Love over Will remixes are finally primed for their official Innervisions outing.
The skipping broken beats and distorted pads of Alex Smoke’s“Dust” were darkly romantic, with a baroque feel enhanced by the producer’s kinetic symphony of small moving parts. Mano Le Tough’s masterful remix holds on these buzzing elements of micro machinery, yet strips away the original version’s atmospherics. The Irish-born artist instead crafts a sleek cut which is propelled forward with seamless melodic phrases, cut-up vocal trickery, and the type of sure-footed sound narrative that he has become renowned for.
Love over Will’s“Dire Need” was ominous and string-laden in its original form, which was then coaxed into a throbbing, reverb-heavy offering at the hands of Tale of Us. Now, in the idiosyncratic style that carved out the niche of his peerless mixes, Dixon has applied his surgical precision and DJ’s instinct to this remix. His edit is painstakingly constructed with a tangible live feel, looping drums and a post-punk bassline into a sub-120 bpm tempo, while pushing upwards towards the the songs emotional synth-driven crescendo with the use of sparkling pads.
IV83 - Tracklist
A. Fall Out (Tale Of Us Remix)
B. Dust (Mano Le Tough Remix)
Front Cover
Back Cover
