Ummagma - LCD

Dean Garcia’s mix of Ummagma’s ‘LCD’ is so transformative as to overshadow the original by a significant factor. Which is not to suggest the original is an inferior track, but it’s electronic pop, whereas the former Curve member’s remix delivers an atmospheric dub-infused version. The remix is quite eerie, dispensing with the tinny electronic bleeps and male vocals, and instead building the kind of ominous tension and crepuscular mood for which dubstep producers like Burial are renowned. Church bells provide the period stops, as buzzsaw guitar and minor key drones keep the mood decidedly sinister. It’s a stunning example of how a remix can subvert an original track without castrating it.

Ummagma’s ‘Lama’ is a dream-walking track lifted from the album Frequency, full of impressionist yearning. If there’s a better example of Shauna McLarnon’s empathy for the heyday of 4AD and Creation Records, I haven’t heard it. It’s fitting then that Robin Guthrie (of Cocteau Twins) mixes the track, and it appears here [again] on this EP, retaining the beautiful textures and drift of the original but adding a uniquely complimentary guitar part drenched in feedback.

‘Back to You’ is a track from Ummagma’s album, Antigravity which manages to meld the dreamy aspect of Ummagma’s music with the kind of cross border noir redolent of Calexico’s music. Here though, Dean Garcia again supplants the mood of the original, re-configuring it into a trip-hop inspired dub masterclass.