Tim Shiel - Distractions One: Variants (2022)

Naarm/Melbourne-based producer Tim Shiel expands the sonic universe of his Australian Music Prize-nominated album Distractions One with a companion album of variants, dubs and alternate mixes.

This is more than a remix package. Variants plays more like an alternate version of the original album, beamed in from another universe where the beats are harder and the vibe is further out.

It opens with a swirling piece of Lynchian sound design that invokes what follows: a blissful surreal trip driven by house pulses, punctuated by synth flourishes & starring an expanded cast of characters drawn from Tim's tight inner circle and beyond.

Genre-blending dance alchemists Close Counters contribute a broken-beat reinvention of Tim's boom-bap collab with ARIA-award winning phenom Genesis Owusu, while rising star of the Melbourne club scene FOURA brings a euphoric UKG touch to Together Again.

A dubbed-out version of early single Right In Front Of You pushes Braille Face's vocals to the back and brings the horns to the front, courtesy of Will Morrissey (Vance Joy band) on sax and Jonathan Baker (Anatole) on trumpet.

Tim also spins up his own thumping re-edits of album cuts Get Into Your Love, Call Me Back! and Together Again, inspired by the long tradition of the leftfield late-nite rework - from Arthur Baker's 1980s acid club edits through to modern-day Belgian wizards Soulwax, and everything in between.

The album's delicate denouement is a simple but effective "piano mix" of album highlight Sparrow. All of Tim's too-intricate bells and whistles are removed, leaving behind a deeply nourishing vocal/piano ballad that ruminates on memory and mindfulness.