Fatcat Rec. Vetiver : You May Be Blue / Been so Long (Neighbors remixes) (US,2008)***'
The first track of this 12”, “You may blue”, brought back into mind some of the true 45” period for dance occasions (-I hate to see how today even MP3 computers made it into dance halls on occasions, with their awful and emptied sound ; where are the days of choices for a 45” which were also related to the idea that a full range sound spectrum with deep ranges mattered-). and also especially certain moments came back to mind, because some foundation of sound which has been aded into the mix has something of a 80s German danceable wave record/electropop, whice it is also mixed with more subtle sounds of keyboards, completed with more nu-softpop orientated vocals. Then the higher note more melodic keyboards take over the ride, the mood gets sweeter, and moodier to a 1-tile sized danceable atmosphere. This seems to be an over 8 minute dance remix by Vetiver Mainman Andy Cabic with producer and long time cooperators Thom Monahan (now in heavy duties and in demand), a constructive cooperation for which they call themselves “Neighbors”. The second side is much more moodier and a meditative chill-out that sounds a bit like a soundtrack for some journey to India or so, features contributions from Alissa Anderson on flute, harmoniously mixed with keyboard-like melodica drones and pedalled guitar (by Farmer Dave Scher), smooth bass percussion, and wordless vocals, harmoniously moving forward as if travelling on top of an elephant surrounded by a warm breath of wind in some colourful exotic country.
If these tracks are supposed to reveal something of the upcoming new album of Vetiver (the band was so busy with touring the last two years, it took a bit longer), I think they surely sound promising and thoughtfully produced.
