Following his 2010 hit remix of ‘Crystalised,’ and its follow, ‘Reunion,’ Edu Imbernon returns for his third remix of The xx.
His re-work of ‘Lips’ is taken from the band’s third album, “I See You”, on Young Turks and continues Edu’s exploration of melodic and emotional moods for the dancefloor. With a strong 2017, Edu Imbernon and his Fayer brand have gone strength to strength in both underground and crossover appeal, culminating in the emotive melodies of ‘Lips’.
Here, Edu himself explains his motivations behind each of his The xx remixes:
The xx - Crystalised (2010)
Early 2010 my ex-manager and good friend Valentino Barrioseta came to have dinner at my place and showed me The xx’s first album. I fell in love with Crystalised, I remember listening to it on Youtube and the song having less than 50k plays.
Valentino asked me if I would like to remix this, I said of course; he spoke to Young Turks and they were keen on the idea although there were many other artists remixing it and they would only release a few, fortunately mine was selected and therefore released.
For me this remix changed my perception of producing electronic music, real instruments became part of me instantly, the remix became an instant classic and it’s of course one of my most proud remixes.
I’ve had countless situations where I’ve played it (always as a closing song) and have had the biggest reactions ever from the crowd.
The remix is one of the most sold remixes of the band up to today, which means a lot considering it was released 7 years ago and so many great names have remixed them.
The xx – Reunion (2013)
When the band announced their second album I was so excited to listen to it and I got a chance again to remix it. The label let me chose which song, and my favourite from the album was “Reunion” – for me it kept the essence of their first album which I loved so much, Reunion had the bass and riffs that I needed for the remix and of course the beautiful vocals from Romy and Oliver.
When I started the remix I tried to keep a similar concept to Crystalised, respecting original elements and adding the “dancefloor” touch to it. I also used this remix as a closing song for a couple of years, especially effective when playing sunset or sunrise sets.
The xx – Lips (2017)
When I got the chance to listen to their new album I instantly fell in love with Lips, despite it being quite different from the other songs I remixed for them. This one was a challenge for me as original song is 86bpm, which automatically makes it complicated to keep the original concept intact. As with previous remixes, I decided to recreate a full re-interpretation creating a more hypnotic / slow burner kind of version, this is the slowest remix I’ve ever released at 116 bpm.
So for this version I decided on no acoustic / electric bass but a fully synthesized one, Romy’s voice re-sampled and everything building to an intense breakdown for an instant bass harmony variation as an euphoric moment, This is perhaps one of the most risky remixes I’ve ever done (considering the amount of great sounds that the original had) but one of the remixes I’m most proud of, especially being the third remix for the band and wanting to express something different than the 2 older remixes.
“Lips” is NOW AVAILABLE on Young Turks.