Remix albums can be a little hit and miss and miss and miss and miss, yet it doesn’ have to be that way. Intention is a very important part of the process. If the aim is to widen the market for the track then it’s hard not to be a little cynical, however if it’s offered up as an artistic opportunity to create something new – then that opens up a new world of possibilities.
Benoit Pioulard is an idiosyncratic US composer/ songwriter who regularly merges vague elements of pop songs with field recordings and ambient sound, creating deeply personal handmade music that feels encased beneath layers of emotion, warmth and perhaps a little dust. 2013′ Hymnal, his fourth for US indie label Kranky is loaded with Catholic allusions with his typically hushed vocals and dreamy, woozy, though at times quite textural instrumentation.
He’ handed his material to the Lost Tribe Sound label who have returned with a double cd set of remixes, sharing a similar aesthetic to Pioulard and enlisting many in their current roster. The freakishly precocious William Ryan Fritch‘ take on Margin is modern classical pop murkiness which merges a lofi break beat with cello stabs and vocals whilst Cock and Swan offer a dense highly textured yet still melodic take on Homily, Graveyard Tapes provide lilting decaying noise, and Melbourne’ Part Timer takes Reliquary into electronic realms. With mixes by Loscil, The Remote Viewer, and even Pioulard himself, this album feels like an elevation of Hymnal, an overwhelming and remarkably cohesive body of sound that is frequently surprising albeit in a woozy understated way.
What’s remarkable is how centred and consistent this album is. Perhaps this is due to the strength of the source material. Usually on remix albums there’ at least one song that you can’ get out of your head, and for this writer it’s Canadian producer Segue’ gorgeous ambient take on Censer. It’s just so languid slowly building over time into a jangling dreamy emotive percussive jam. With a 4/4 throb beneath the ethereal drones and jangling loops it brings to mind the best work of the likes of Susumu Yokota, lush, haunting yet just a little bit off. To be honest though it’s hard and a little unfair to pick out just the odd track. The standard is so consistently high and the Hymnal Remixes is designed to just wash over you. It’s something you can embrace as a whole. With ghostly remixes by Loscil and Widesky really delving into a gentle ambient sound world whilst the likes of Zachary Gray and Brambles choose to work with beats, there are whole worlds of diversity here. Yet like Pioulard’ work itself they’re subtle and considered worlds, worlds to be savored.
