3AM RMXS by Ellis Swan

12″ VINYL  Altrimenti Records

Following up on the hidden wonder of Ellis Swan’s twilight folk-noir masterpiece 3 AM (Quindi Records, 2022), Altrimenti commissions three bold remixes with a wayward slant to rival Swan’s own outsider status.

Italian-in-New York Madteo leads the charge with his unmistakable, artfully smudged style, roughly chopping up ‘Down By The Reservoir’ and thumping it into a claustrophobic house abstraction. Berlin-based Simone (aka Banishsh / Meze) similarly offers a rugged rhythm section as a framework for scattered shards of Swan’s ‘Chinatown’, tunnelling into gritty broken techno with a bass-heavy, UK flavour in the process. On the B side, seasoned Italo american house maverick Mass Prod serves up a purring, psychedelic synth-and-breaks roller that keeps the essence of ‘Evening Sun’ intact as it tips its hat to maximal 90s big beat, maintaining an undercurrent of surrealism while keeping one eye fixed on festival season.

In their distinctive approaches, all three remixers found unique through lines from Swan’s fractured majesty towards physical, fearless dance music cast in experimental tones and textures — unpredictable club weapons drawn from unlikely sources.