A well known pioneer of electro-house, Ewan Pearson has produced another key moment in the genre's emergence out of electroclash. Less machine, more human, the seductive drive of this house beat demands dancefloor satisfaction. Due to his overwhelming success, Pearson now gets the honors of a lavish double-disc retrospective treatment, appropriate since his remix work over the last five years that has both established his name and defined an individual aesthetic.
Piece Work is an extensive product, but it calls to mind the extended mix versions of 80s pop songs! The best material on Piece Work interprets the notion of the extended mix as a process of breaking down and then rebuilding the track. Pearson strips the source material to its bare essentials (usually just a vocal and perhaps a single melody hook) and rebuilding it into something more than the original's creators could have envisioned.
Often times the less-than-perfect originals are most heavily transformed: for example in "The Golden Path," (purchase/download) the Chemical Brothers' synth-rock song collaboration with the Flaming Lips, is blown up into a swirling electro epic. Stripping from the song the psychedelic nuances, Pearson's buzzing electro version is psychedelic in essence, easy to answer back to the original's empty pretensions. Also worthy of mention is the dramatic extended reconstruction of Cortney Tidwell's "Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up," demonstrating perfectly how Pearson's signature sound highlights an unusually soft series of chime loops blending into the likes of DJ sets peddling minimal, deep house, or cosmic disco.
Pearson's lavish production shows in his DJ sets, which have gained a higher profile due to his superlative mixing style: often matching not just the beat but also the harmonic key between tracks (!!), he has a knack for pulling off fast but flawless transitions that sound truly organic. Other numbers of noting included Playgroup's "Make It Happen," The Rapture's "I Need Your Love," Alter Ego's "Beat The Bush," Goldfrapp's "Ride a White Horse," and Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" (purchase/download) (Ewan Pearson's extended remix, of course!).
Piece Work released September 27, 2007 on !k7 Records. Fabric 35 released August 14, 2007 on Fabric Records.
