Steve Queralt & Michael Smith - Sun Moon Town Versions (2023)

Sun Moon Town Versions is a companion piece to last year’s EP, on which Steve Queralt, bass player of pioneering shoegazers RIDE, joined forces with the writer and film-maker MIchael Smith for a stunning four-track EP featuring Steve's music and Michael's spoken-word musings. On Versions, the four tracks have been reimagined by Nandele, Flug 8, GLOK and Nina Walsh, kindred spirits and treasured members of the extended Bytes/Ransom Note family.

First up, the prolific Mozambique beat-maker Nandele gets to grips with the post-rock of Vespertina. The original featured Steve’s RIDE bandmate Loz Colbert on drums, but for his remix, Nandele has removed the drums altogether and drilled into the deep hum at the heart of it all, with Steve’s throbbing bass driving the track along. Nandele’s precise programmed beats owe more to trap/hip-hop than conventional rock music.

Daniel Herrmann, under his Flug 8 guise, transforms the dystopian electronica of Glitches into a euphoric slice of celestial techno, turning Michael’s anxious musings on returning to London (“we’ve sleepwalked into the wrong England”) into an unlikely 3am floorfiller.

The RIDE connection continues as Andy Bell dons his GLOK hat and takes Chaldean Oracle down the K-Hole, eschewing Michael’s vocal almost entirely and turning in a Detroit dub-techno monster with echoes of Bandulu and Carl Craig in its shimmering melodies, eerie distortion and pounding drums.

Last but not least, Nina Walsh has subtly altered the haunting Boards of Canada-esque ambience of In a Wonderland with filigree-thin Augustus Pablo melodies and an echoey metronome that just about anchors the track, perfectly enhancing the liminal threshold feel of the original.

As well as these four new remixes, due to popular demand the release also features instrumental versions of the original tracks, with fans keen to hear Steve’s exceptional electronic soundscapes in isolation.