Bleep

Yann Tiersen's Kerber album released on Mute in 2021 dialed things back to piano, synth, and treated electronics. Utilising remarkably soft and buzzing reverb and static glitches, Tiersen built an exciting new monument of modern classical out of a restrained palette. Tracks like ‘Ker Al Loch’ glisten with its bursts of sound and challenging, interlocking movements while the closing pianos and synths on ‘Poull Bojer’ seemed to rise towards the sky endlessly like a roller coaster until crashing back down to earth and disintegrating in epic fashion.

Operating in such a singular world, it comes as no surprise that Tiersen revisited Kerber on his own first with the 11 5 18 2 5 18 LP in 2022. A reworked and reassembled version of Kerber inspired by the live shows Tiersen put on in support, 11 5 18 2 5 18 buzzes with a new kind of energy. Leaning more heavily towards techno beats and harder, louder synth patterns betray a shifted focus to the rhythmic aspects of the record, and of Tiersen’s approach as a whole, making for a stunning and deeply emotional review.

Here Yann Tiersen has now handed over Kerber’s reigns to some of the brightest contemporary voices in experimental electronic music for this new Kerber Remixes EP. Alongside expectedly beguiling versions from Beatrice Dillon, Laurel Halo, and Iku Sakan are two winners of a remix contest hosted on SoundCloud, Sote and Simon Sky. Given nothing but the stems to ‘Ker al Loch’ Sote and Simon Sky beat out over a hundred other entries to land their remixes on the tracklist. It’s easy to see why: Sote's foreboding mix accentuating the extra terrestrial qualities of the original composition and Simon Sky's take locking firmly into a driving techno production.