The collaboration between Ayla Nereo and David Sugalski (aka The Polish Ambassador) as Wildlight, brought us the duo's debut album Hers Was As Thunder in mid 2013. Ayla Nereo brings folk vocals and song structure to the table while Polish throws down his fresh production, and they end up meeting in the middle where the dance vibes are serene and wonderful. With the help from friends and respected peers in the music world, the duo has just released Hers Was as Thunder – The Remixes. Each track off of the album has gotten reworked, so while the original vibes are still very present, these remixes are like nothing we would hear from Wildlight by themselves.
Two interpretations of "Twirl Me" are brought to us by Invisible Light Project and Pumpkin. Both remixes keep the strongest vocal aspects in tact and chill the song way down. Somewhere between danceable and calming, these remixes still make you want to move on an instinctual level.
Blockhead, Dr. Toast, Guy Edward, and Meiwenti successfully take a stab at the track "Save My Mind For Later". Although they are all at different ends of the genre spectrum, Ayla's vocals remind you that they are built from the same original track, except for Dr. Toast who just about eliminates the vocals, leaving behind an extremely altered sample in small portions on the track. By replacing a good amount of the percussion with chill piano chords, Blockhead creates a grimier vision of the track. The sonic build and fall in Guy Edward's dance remix has a strength behind it that is very powerful. And last, but not least, Meiwenti's remix of "Save My Mind For Later" might just be the most upbeat and as Ayla repeatedly purrs on these tracks, "…will it move you?" I think it just might.
Wildlight has been slowly releasing individual tracks off of the remix album, and while we got a glimpse at the Ryan Herr remix of "Oh Love" just before the start of the new year, we got our first listen of the Marley Carroll remix when the whole album was released.
The mid-tempo remix of "Live Inside A Dream" from saQi will truly take you on a dreamlike journey through sax samples and the stunning revamp of the original track. And nothing like the original or saQi's remix, Psydell brings us an ambient glitch version of the track. The only similarity to saQi's is the use of the sax, but otherwise rocks the sliding bass throughout.
Wildlight's track "Dawn to Flight" really showcases the duo's ability to incorporate earthy sounds in with the funk of their electronic side and The Human Experience did the track justice by highlighting the "space between the notes" in his own unique way.
DJ Vadim brought in Pugs Atomz to give the "Conversations Between" remix a touch of a hip-hop feeling. Traveler's approach lights a fire under your soul with electronic elements that maintain the natural funkiness of Wildlight's original track.
The dirtiest of all the remixes is definitely the BZNZ remix of "Rise". With Ayla's vocals, "Exxon is calling me…" over the hearty trap, the different segments of this remix compliment each other well and keep the energy high.
While these many remixes are vastly different from what we heard from Wildlight's original album, it was very refreshing to see that the remix artists all maintained the earthy dance feel of the original tracks. Ayla's vocals were very prominent on the majority of the remixes, but I can't say I didn't like it. Her voice meshed beyond well with these songs and the beautiful lyrics only brought each track higher. This album will definitely be making it into my playlists and it should make it into yours too. This remix album is so damn melodic and funky at the same time, I don't see how you could resist.
