Album Details

• Artist: Chords Of Truth
• Album: Reflections Of Reality (remix)
• Label: Self-Issued
• Year of Release: 2013
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: charlesmartel on 2013-03-09

Remixing what are essentially folk songs with an electronic overlay is not something which would immediately set the pulse racing in many cases. Each track on this double CD is given its own special remix name, not that any of them, frankly, mean anything to me - it just seems an added pretension which contributes nothing except making the list of tracks more difficult to remember. As for this review, I was going to ignore the remix names and just stick with the original song titles until I realised that there are several remixed versions of the songs on the album.

So, how does this work. Well, it will not surprise you if the answer was that the results are mixed. "Tune Your Mind (Momentum Folkhouse Remix)" opens with an ethereal smooth feel to it which works well: the very next song, "Listen (Tha Green Raver Folkstep Remix)", has moved too close to the glitch genre with lots of buzzing and clicking. With "Moments (The Chameleon Acidfolk Remix)" the whole thing seems to have gone off the rails completely, at least initially. So, in the three opening tracks of the album you pass from the almost sublime, if not to the ridiculous but the close to unbearable.

From that point onwards, the album is rather hit and miss. At times some of the songs sound, in places, like remixed slowed down modern RnB, at others, the same songs seem to contain elements of the work of the early pioneers of synth pop from the eighties, complete with drum machines. At times there is more folk, or at least a more obvious acoustic feel to a song ("When I Was Wasted (Acid Nab Laptop Folk Remix)"), whereas on others ("The Power to Be Alive (LORDBRET Progressive Remix)") it is as if the acid house has taken over the mixing studio.

There are times when this is really quite good. Yet there are others when it drags. Listening to the whole thing all the way through is quite a struggle for it is inconsistent and hard to fathom at times. It is definitely something that the connosieur would appreciate - or the people behind it. But I am not sure if there is a wide market for almost two hours of electronic remixes of the same half dozen or so songs. The album seems to be an exercise in what can be done if someone clever has a mind to it. But just because it can be done does not mean that it has to be done.

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