[Echocord]

The first batch of remixes from Luke Hess’ debut long player, Light In The Dark are predictably a dub heavy swag retouched by some of the leading lights of dub-based techno. Stephen Hitchell adopts his cv313 guise for a sublime, spatial meander through Hess’ “Reel Life,” opening up the reverb gates and giving the track a solid drenching in ambient white noise. The fragments borrowed from the track are chilled down to an icy freeze, sounding like they’re contracting and cracking in the grainy, sub zero atmospherics. He largely leave the decaying chords that drove Hess’ original alone, shaping instead a droning, dub landscape floating in the weightlessness of space.

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Marko Fürstenberg applies a dance floor treatment to “Transform,” a track which was already well suited to club play. Furstenberg not only speeds up the track but realizes the potential of the drive in the chords, making them swing harder, giving “Transform” considerably more punch than it previously had. Mikkel Metal likewise applies a much needed quantity of urgency and fervor to “Meaning Matters,” creating a drums and bass ensemble that pushes and pulls against itself with a groove you could listen to all day long. It’s rare when a collection of remixes outshines the originals in every instance, but there is no denying that Luke Hess has been shown up here by each interpretation, his originals sounding too clean and proper by comparison.