I love it when I come across a band that understands that songs are not set in stone, that they can, of course, be recorded for posterity, but that this is just one small part of a bigger story, a sonic snapshot of what happened on that particular day, in one place, with a specific array of players and instruments. That a song is never truly finished and can, and indeed should, be reinterpreted, re-invented, and rerecorded whenever the moment feels right, that songs have more than one life to live. Pete International Airport is a band with just such a mindset.
Also known as The Lamplighters EP here we are given alternative sonic plot lines to some of their recent songs. This five-track offering begins with the album version of “Sea of Eyes” as a musical control, a point of comparison for the Andy Bell remix that follows – a much more spacious and atmospheric take on an already spacious and atmospheric piece, thanks in no small part to the delicate vocals which come courtesy of Alexander Hackett of Montreal dream-gaze outfit Pang Attack.
We are then treated to two versions of “Out Past the Razor Wire,” with Tom Smith of Holy Youth Movement reimagining the track first as an abrasive, post-industrial remix and an effervescent, energetic club sound.
Long-time collaborator Daniel Sparks, aka omniscuro, plays us out with a version of “No Blindfold” that renders the song into a fully digital sound. It is as if the mixing desk has become sentient and figured out how to make its own music without human interference.
A song is never finished; it is just a short chapter in a bigger narrative. However, sometimes it pays to have other sonic authors write some of those chapters for you. If one vivid imagination is good, a whole array of them is going to be out of this world.
Sea of Eyes EP – Bandcamp
Spotify
Sea of Eyes featuring Alexander Hackett
Sea of Eyes GLOK Remix by Andy Bell
YouTube
