Title: Stage Fright
Artist: Edge of Dawn
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 3rd December 2010
Label: Dependent Records
EP Review
“I see a raging ball of fire / burning lifelines in my palms” One mighty picture, taken from EDGE OF DAWN’s recent album’s opener ‘Beyond The Gate’, and that picture was chosen to be the front ornament of the album's follow-up EP ‘Stage Fright’ due out tomorrow. A picture you never really did connect to that track, but which must have a significant one, otherwise any other could have made the front cover just as well. Perhaps, it’s the eradication that goes with the burning of lifelines that connects these two by the final stride the girl is taking on ‘Stage Fright’. Imagery that will have you thinking for some time to come! The EP is going to feature a remixes of the title track, as well as new versions of selected other tracks and new material. The EP is opened by the ‘Steril Remix’ already included on the latest instalment of the Septic series and which makes a quite unspectacular opening with a straightened, more dance-floor suitable version of the title track.
The next one on the other hand, the ACRETONGUE remix of ‘Valid World’, has you prick up your ears instantly. With a rougher instrumentation it stresses the brooding fury that is caged within the track and maintains a dark current even into a part of the chorus before the mellow piano relieves the tension with purest melancholy for a while. Following it right up is the first of two new tracks on the EP ‘Up (A Cold Case)’. “Clean on arrival / Stained when returned”. A thing that describes perfectly what happens to the soul of a human being over its physical existence in the world, if something like that exists that is. The purity amongst all good things that happen gets stained with pain, grief and suffering; for some it’s the only thing they will ever get to feel as long as they are. Isn’t it amazing what kind of interpretations you can get out of single line? But there’s, as always, much more and some lines I think underpin my approach. The track itself comes up with swirling beat arrays, complemented percussion inclusions. It screams to be played in a club. The chorus, along with the sonic carpets laid out for the keys is, just stunning.
The second new song is ‘Enchanted’ and turns out completely instrumental. Its slow rhythms are made of multi-faceted, very natural sounding percussion sounds coupled with distortion effects which are a perfect foundation for the classical arrangements of swelling strings and piano. Daniel Myer’s ‘Renegade of Noise Remix’ of ‘In Your Sleep’ takes away the propulsive nature of the original almost completely and by the choice of sounds you’d hardly recognize it as the song it is. It’s purest atmosphere that has taken over in this rendition and you just have to love it. Martin Rudefeldt aka CRYO has equally stripped ‘Capsized’ from its old clothing, instead dressing everything in a gritty, chilly, analogue way and it radiates an almost meditative calm. That’s how a remix has to sound like. ROTERSAND have chosen ‘Up (A Cold Case)’, injecting an organic, funky vibe into it. The set of tracks is closed by the ‘Splitter Remix’ of the title track, a mix that has lots of steam, edges and which is, in my eyes, the far better of the two versions on the EP.
If you’re reading about an EP that frequently means a lot of remixes that just consume space on the disc and don’t have any artistic or sonic merit since they are mostly just alternative club versions. But a remix is supposed to be a re-interpretation, stressing something that hasn’t been that audible in the original, or even a complete reconstruction. With a minor exception you’ll find just that on the ‘Stage Fright’ EP. Artists that really put a lot of thought into their versions. Besides that, you have two new tracks included; altogether making a round release that is worth every cent.
Tracklist
01. Stage Fright [Steril Remix] - 5:33
02. Valid World [Acretongue Remix] - 4:52
03. Up (A Cold Case) - 4:55
04. Enchanted - 3:23
05. In Your Sleep [Renegade Of Noise Remix] - 4:32
06. Capsized [Cryo Remix] - 4:25
07. Up (A Cold Case) [Rotersand Remix] - 5:47
08. Stage Fright [Splitter Remix] - 4:48
Line-Up
Frank M. Spinath
Mario Schumacher
Website
http://www.edgeofdawn.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/edgeofdawnde
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 8.5 / 10
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