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Future Loop Foundation - The Sea And The Sky
Showcasing a new album due for release later this summer, Future Loop Foundation (aka Berlin-based Yorkshireman Mark Barrott) drops a limited edition 12 inch single (in a few weeks) and a digital download.If you are expecting to hear the drum n bass sounds of Future Loop Foundation from back in the day....well..think again. Plus I should add; where have you been? Barrott's last album 'This Is How I Feel' and the now rare 10 inch 'Scratch and Sniff EP' (featuring Mixmaster Morris's fave 'A Very English Summer), should have tipped you off about Future Loop Foundation's change of tempo.
The single carries on with Future Loop Foundation's downtempo explorations and features the original version of 'The Sea and the Sky' plus a clutch of remixes. Having heard the forthcoming album, I can say the title track is a good ambassador of things to come. Like the album, it features old family voice recordings from the 70s that are set well back in the mix, sometimes barely audible, hinting at nostalgia for days gone by and long forgotten summers. In the title track, a small boy (Barrott?) interviewing his Grandfather about what he likes and what he did in the war is delicately placed within a cocoon of uplifting synth strings. The track rises and falls until a La Ritournelle-esque, heart warming build drops you into a tingly crescendo. It packs a very delicate yet powerful emotional wallop and manages to hint at both the poignancy of lost youth, and the wisdom that comes with old age.
The remixes stick to the original with varying degrees of accuracy. My favourite of the reworks is Ashley Beedle's Earth Mix, It is another example of the man's subtle remix talents, and of the reworkings, this one sticks closest to the source material albeit toughened up for the dance floor. TG's Angry Trucker Mix however rips away much of the original leaving only ghosts of samples and contorts them into a sweaty electro house stomper, definitely one for the clubs (but probably not one that I'd go in) . I much prefer Padded Cells Remix, sitting as it does somewhere in between the first two. This mix revels in Padded Cells established 21st space disco sounds yet manages to keep some of the emotions of the original. Finally is Beedles 'Orchestral Reprise' , its basically the Earth Mix without the beats, though beat less doesn't mean ambient in this case, as it still chugs along at a fair old pace.
The single has already garnered praise from Pete Lawrence, Justin Robertson and Laurent Garnier and our own Ben Mynott and Mixmaster Morris. It certainly bodes well for the July release of the album 'Memories From A Fading Room', and nicely sets it up nicely for a place on the starting grid, in pole position for down tempo release of the year.
Best of all is a scheduled appearance of Future Loop Foundation at Eastnor on the Sanctuary stage . I'll see you there under the stars I hope.
Soyo
www.futureloopfoundation.com
'The Sea and the Sky' is available on download at Beatport.com
www.myspace.com/futureloopfoundation to hear more tracks and watch the specially commissioned visuals.
Written: 6th Jun, 07
Read: 2459 times
