Dive Index is a collaborative project of sorts, led by producer Will Thomas of Plumbline fame. Following the release of Mid/Air earlier this year, which featured the talents of an assortment of vocalists and musicians like Natalie Walker and Merz, a selection of remixes from the album have found their way onto Collisions. There are re-workings by Tunng, The Album Leaf and Beat Pharmacy to name check a few, and fortunately there’s a coherence of mood and texture throughout the gentle electronic pop of the collection. The crackle of The Album Leaf’s remix of ‘Sole Fisherman’, complete with the delicate euphoria of trip-hop influenced beats, sits comfortably with the quirky folk-tinged remix of ‘Hoko Onchi’. This track is still discernibly a Tunng remix, but with rougher edges provided by the source material – off-kilter repetitive vocals from Ian Masters from Pale Saints and a lower, deeper register in the bass work.
The Tiny Mile Remix of ‘Water In Our Hands’ is an infectious combination of upbeat sensations with the breathy tones of vocalist Cat Martino riding atop a couple of simple loops. ‘Screen To Screen’ towards the end of the album brings this same feeling full circle, but this time Beat Pharmacy brings a much darker melange of gritty synth work and pulsating beats to the vocal. There’s much here that draws inspiration from the heyday of Bristol trip-hop – as with so many other releases put out this year – but Dive Index manages to elude a single source point. Collisions is a highly pleasing release, thanks to the skill of the remix artists and the detail within the original Dive Index material.
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