Search - David Sylvian, Robert Fripp :: Darshan Remixes

Three extended remixes of an extended track.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 08/09/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

""Darshan", taken from Sylvian/Fripp's "The First Day" is an extended (17 minute) track presented with a dance (almost proto drum-n-bass) backbeat), a great fractured guitar, and a fantastic vocal over the top. While it goes on forever, it's a pretty fantastic track. This EP presents the album version and a pair of remixes. Beyond that introduction, I'll pretty much ignore the album version and focus on the two remixes.



The first remix is the "translucent remix" by the Grid. After a brief, hazy, ambient intro, it turns to a pretty straight dance beat with the verses and brief snatches of guitars sampled over it. Like the album mix, it's an extended cut (this time at about 16 minutes), and like the album version, it gets old, but this one gets old pretty quick. Five minutes in and I've had enough. Mind you, I'm not one for your sort of dub/house style mixes and that's what this is, albeit with the verses intact.



The second remix is "Darshana", a "reconstruction" by the Future Sound of London. Sylvian and Fripp thought enough of their reconstruction efforts that they granted co-composer credits to the remixers. The mix cuts in rather abruptly in the middle of a looped Fripp soundscape and quickly picks up this bizarre, loping synth-hit driven sound and a clean tone guitar. It bears little resemblance to the source material, but is so foreign that I can think of it separately and largely I find it fairly unengaging-- it sounds like it was put together at some guy's computer.



So if you're into remixes, you'll probably enjoy this. A lot of people did. Personally, i found this a bit unengaging."