It’s always exciting to hear how a producer with an electronic inclination approaches an original track when remix duties arise. In this case Amsterdam/Copenhagen-based producer Uffe puts his magical hands on a velvet soul track from South East London’s 20 year old Poppy Ajudha and comes up trumps with a jazz-emitting house flip that is deep, dark and destined for the dance floor.
Picking out influences from Ella Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse and Thelonious Monk, Poppy’s original is a 6-minute epic that has her floating decibels over an Alice Coltrane-esque instrumental packed full of twinkling Rhodes chords and heady percussion. Save for the last two minutes when a gentle break groove sees that track out, the original stays free from any locked rhythm which only adds to the spacey atmosphere of ‘David’s Song’ – a track dedicated to her late friend and talented saxophonist David Turay.
Bringing this boundless canvas to Uffe’s ears for a remix was always going to producing some gold. Dirty hi-hats drift into a sublime 4×4 shuffle as cosmic synths weave in and around a grooving bassline and Poppy’s soulful acapella vocals. Rhodes chords remain in place, but this time with a more syncopated rhythm. At times the off-kilter percussion gives off that Max Graef type of sheen, which isn’t surprising considering their previous history as label mates on Tartelet Records. Yet still it remains distinct, blending the worlds of soul and house together with precision.
Poppy Ajudha’s ‘David’s Song’ is available to pre-order digitally now on Bandcamp, iTunes and all other digital stores via Indigo Soul.
