Last summer, you could barely escape the wide-eyed charms of "Late Train", the epic second single from Paul Murphy and Quinn Luke's all-star Balearic rock outfit. Following its release on Claremont 56 last May, the song became the soundtrack to sweltering afternoons by the Mediterranean and lazy boat parties in the Adriatic.
10 months on, the blissfully baggy original is given a new lease of life thanks to a swathe of new remixes. Once again, "Late Train" is set to soundtrack those
memorable sunrise and sunset moments.
Longtime Claremont 56 contributors the Idjut Boys deliver a distinctively
delay-laden take in their trademark dub disco style. Their "Late Brain" version
sees reverb-heavy guitars and organs cascade appealingly over a sturdy
slo-mo disco groove. They make much of the original's winding guitar solos and Luke's laidback vocal. Both seem to tumble from the speakers, as if falling in slow motion towards the dancefloor.
Veteran analogue disco producer Andrew Meecham opts for a different vibe
altogether on his two Emperor Machine remixes. The former Chicken Lips
man is a past master at delivering long, undulating, sparse mixes built around
heayweight synth basslines and vintage electronics. Here, he delivers Vocal and
Instrumental mixes in which hand picked elements of Paqua's original (organs,
percussion, guitar snippets) bob and weave around a relentless electronic
groove. Both mixes are nothing short of stunning.
Finally, early Paqua fave "The Visitor" (originally featured on the flipside of
2012 debut single "Dinosaur Zappa") gets turned into a woozy Balearic charmer
by experienced dub disco heavyweight Ray Mang. His version, replete with
birdsong, percussive shuffle and subtle strings, is as pleasing as a warm summer
breeze, and twice as humid. It offers a picturesque, morning fresh finale to a
superb double vinyl package.