All is Wild, All is Silent Remixes

Balmorhea

All is Wild, All is Silent Remixes

Western Vinyl

Aug 07, 2009 Web Exclusive By Tom Vale

What can a set of remixers do with the pastoral, acoustic splendor of Balmorhea? Well, they can stretch it out, for one: Eluvium takes the six-minute track "Settler," and pushes it out to a full 17 to kick the record off. And somehow they don't wear out their welcome. They envelop. If you find your way through that experience—including its beyond-subtle, five-minute fade out—you're in the right mood (a trance) for the record.

Balmorhea laid down some fertile ground, more so than you might have known. It makes a casual Balmorhea fan recognize all over again how good this band is. All Is Silent Remixes takes Balmorhea's stately, old world elegance and gives it an extraterrestrial makeover, an alien space wash, making it deeper, stranger, and mostly colder than the original.

Despite that coldness, there's obvious devotion in these recordings; without exception, the remixers found their way into these compositions and grew something weird and wonderful from the core. These remixers are like great actors—inhabiting these songs, not just imitating them. (Jacaszek stands out, and should go straight to work soundtracking psychological thrillers.) All is Silent was a daydream; this is astral projection. (www.westernvinyl.com)

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