I have been a long time fan of the 12rec label. All their releases are short run CDR pressings with simultaneous MP3 and printable artwork (which are always beautifully designed) file downloads available. I will confess that, in spite of good intentions, I have never actually sent money across to support by buying a hard copy of any of the releases. Receiving this one as a free review copy has, of course, upped the guilt quotient so, alongside buying some things for myself, I will highly recommend everyone else do the same! One of the key features of the label is its lack of genre focus. While left-field electronica and folktronic sounds do appear regularly, anything that takes the label’s fancy gets a look in, and the quality is consistently high.
This particular release is no exception. In conjunction with Zymogen, who have looked after the downloadable side of things for this one, comes a collection of remixes of work from Crepusculum’s earlier Sky Diaries EP. It’s a remarkably cohesive collection with all 12 remixers picking the strengths out of Fred Baty’s original recordings and working them into a group of enigmatic, evocative, downbeat mood pieces. Engine 7 rides a simple chord and melody progression for 6 minutes of attention holding prettiness in ‘Anachronism (Twilight Mix)’. Bluermutt cut and pastes a couple of simple acoustic guitar riffs and frames them in delicate processed percussion. In fact, glitchy rhythms and Baty’s acoustic guitar are the dominant features of the album. Heezen works them in to a relative frenzy in ‘Crashed Cars’ and The Love Songs mix them with intimate sax samples. GoGooo uses his contemplative looping and delaying techniques to their usual stunning effect. Adding to the sense of unity across the album is the way they have been edited together with field recordings and drone washes overlapping the endings and beginnings of tracks. But ultimately, the strength of the work lies in the melodic grab of even the simplest structures, intrinsic to Baty’s originals.
What more can be said but to head to Zymogen and download the release or, better still, support 12rec by actually sending (a relatively tiny amount of) money to them for a hard copy?
Adrian Elmer
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