[Pet Health Admin]

Remix projects are often commercially motivated ventures that jettison everything that made a track personal and expressive in favor of thudding, generic dance beats that will get played in clubs and on the radio. But as is usually the case, singer David Sylvian has a different approach. Nine Horses is his project with his brother and drummer, Steve Jansen, and electronica artist Burnt Friedman. They take songs from the 2006 release Snow Borne Sorrow and find new dimensions in their already multifaceted songs. These are more reimaginings than remixes. The slow electro-soul of "The Banality of Evil" becomes an ethereal New Orleans dirge that brings out Sylvian's baleful lyrics like a lost voodoo prayer. "Wonderful World" emphasizes Keith Lowe's slinky double bass line, underscoring the already smoke-filled jazz noir feel this track had in its original form. Stina Nordenstam sings the chorus on that, and the remix makes her fractured soprano an even more startling contrast with Sylvian's dolorously fudgy tenor. Nordenstam takes the lead on the hallucinatory lullaby of "Birds Sing for Their Lives," originally a Japanese-only bonus track. There are also new tracks: the funky and acerbic "Money for All" and the ominous, but still funky "Get the Hell Out," the latter full of glitchy beats and chamber strings. Both are reheated in alternate versions as well. You can't dance to the remixes of Money for All, but you can go deeper into the world of David Sylvian. --John Diliberto
Customer Review: Nine Horses Ride Again
David Sylvian, Burnt Friedman and Steve Jansen have fortunately made the decision to continue working together under the moniker of NINE HORSES. This eight track EP begins with the title track, "Money For All", a collaboration between Sylvian and Friedman. Jazzy vibraphone and clarinet riffs are intertwined with bluesy guitar licks and folky harmonica lines,...all casually placed atop a slightly trippy hip hop groove. The song also features the soulful harmonies from the very same backing vocalists who helped frame a large portion of the melody lines on Nine Horses' debut, Snow Borne Sorrow. Sylvian's lyrics seem to be filled with veiled attacks against the US President Bush and the Republican Party (referred to here as "a mean looking elephant"), basically hitting them hard where they purport to be the strongest: homeland security, capitalism, and the neo-conservative urge for war rather than diplomacy. Yet the cultural climate maintained by the nation's citizens is also taken to task: the endless need for foreign oil, the downside to nationalistic pride resulting in an 'us versus them' mentality, the overall greed that is prevalent in capitalism and destructive vices that many willingly take part in. "Get The Hell Out", written by Jansen and Sylvian, is built upon a funked up techno beat which is somewhat similar to the recent sound of Massive Attack. Staccato synthesized horn kicks punctuate the track throughout the relatively aggressive verses, while Sylvian's smooth Fender Rhodes and a highly orchestrated sampling of violins permeate the much gentler bridges. Though Sylvian's lyrics are uncharacteristically less descriptive than usual, it appears as though the song's subject matter revolves around an abused woman in need of escape from her current situation. "Birds Sing For Their Lives", which previously appeared on the Japanese version of Nine Horses' debut cd, is a collaboration between Jansen and Sylvian with singer Stina Nordenstam handling all vocals and lyrics. The song's minimalistic and icy tone atop an eerily adagio waltz tempo is perfect for Nordenstam's fragile vocal. In the case of Friedman's remixes of the tracks from Snow Borne Sorrow, all three fail to improve upon the originals in any way and come across as unnecessary in my opinion. Yet the new material that is included can only be considered as especially strong additions to the Nine Horses catalog, so this is well worth it.


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