Various Artists - Lost Library EP

Although most of the music industry did its utmost to kill vinyl, it survived. And not only that, in the last few years it has been on a rocket-like rise, the industry doing its utmost to get back on that bandwagon with things like Record Store Day.

Fire Records seems to be one of those labels that never gave up on vinyl anyway, always coming up with new ideas to spice up the enjoyment of the aficionados. So it does it again with Lost Library, seemingly a new series of EP’s that is supposed to bring re-interpretations of certain lost cult classics that are usually very hard or almost impossible to find in any shape or form. Obviously, the idea is to fully cover the ground - those unable to find the originals will grab the thing up, so will those lucky enough to have them, as it is always interesting to hear a new interpretation and see if it brings anything new and/or interesting to the reading.

This edition brings together three interesting pieces, three (or shall I say four) artists catching up (independent) steam and three interesting curios being re-interpreted. Jane Weaver/ Virginia Wing, both coming up with some very interesting albums each, re-do  “Goodbyes and Beginnings”, a track from an unobtainable private press album by Suzanne Menzel and produced by the Danish producer Klaus Schonning, many designate as somebody responsible for the spread of new age music in the Eighties. No new age this time around, but a classy, electronically spiced dream pop version of however the original track was supposed to sound like.

Noveller goes scary with her re-interpretation of John Carpenter’s opening music for “The Thing”. By following in the tracks of what Carpenter originally had in mind, she is able to re-create the atmosphere Carpenter had in mind, without simply playing a copycat. That is something that you might expect from the third participant in the project, Scandinavian horror masters Death & Vanilla. And yet another twist here, as if they switched musical roles with Noveller. D&V pick up Bert Jansch's “Moonshine” and turn it into a brilliant melancholy piece with no acoustic guitar in sight.

It's an interesting project, carefully and thoughtfully done, giving you enough to keep on asking for more!