Earlier this year Julien Baker released her critically acclaimed album, Little Oblivions via Matador Records / Remote Control Records. Today, she announces the September 1st release of Little Oblivions Remixes EP on which select tracks off the album are remixed and reworked by some of the most notable artists in contemporary independent music.
Hand selected by Baker herself, it features contributions from Australian folktronica songwriter Gordi, singer-songwriter Half Waif, celebrated electronic composer Helios and slowcore / shoegaze pioneer Jesu.
Today, she shares the first taste of Little Oblivions Remixes by way of acclaimed ambient-electronic artist Helios’ take on Bloodshot. He transforms the heavy, electronics focused track into a dreamlike daze which accentuates Baker’s original melodies while bolstering the bittersweet lyrics and stunning vocal performance.
“I was excited when Julien Baker reached out about doing a remix, because I respect her work and it was an interesting challenge to do a remix of singer/songwriter material in the context of my approach which is more in the electronic/ambient world. I wanted to keep the integrity of the original composition, which was great, but also wanted to create enough of a spin to give it a distinctly new quality,” Helios says.
“My approach to remixes is to use as much of the original material as possible, but to use those elements as a base to create a variety of new textures. So I took a lot of the guitar and percussion elements and ran them through some old tape recorders to give it a rough “handmade” quality, reversed them, chopped them up or manipulated them with reverbs and delays to create ambient soundscapes.”
“I treated Julien’s vocals to match the rougher, more lo-fi quality I used with the instrumental elements. Harmonically, I changed up the chord changes to give the vocal melody a slightly new framework and arrangement on which to sit and create some new twists and turns and builds in the composition. It was one of the most fun remixes I’ve done to date, with such strong original material it gave me a lot to play around with.”
Check out Helios’ remix of Bloodshot below. Little Oblivions Remixes EP is out September 1.
Source: Media release, photo: Alysse Gafkjen
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