“Alte Seele” (English: “Old Soul”) - VRIL’s atmospheric return to Delsin shows once again, yet even more matured, the german producer’s unique ability to soundtrack the in-betweens of one’s life, the not-anymore-but -also -not- yet situations we face. Twilight zones. An old soul likely lives through multiple reincarnations - a beautiful theme, but not one to take lightly. Once again, Daniel Martin Diaz is responsible for the fascinating artwork, this time in green and gold, the colors associated with renewal and enlightenment. The original track of the ALTE SEELE EP is a wise, cinematic kaleidoscope of sounds carried by a soft drum ( do they sound like heartbeats?) and angelic heights resembling wind instruments. It's a whole life and death cycle packed in a crisp track, stripping down its heavy meaning to the powerful essential as if the composer conveys a near-death experience into a mathematical-appearing musical formula. 

This lays a fertile ground for three contrasting remixes on the EP, realized by close friends of VRIL: Marcel Dettmann, His Master’s Voice, and Voiski. It is no secret that VRIL and french producer Voiski excellently complement each other as “Vrilski” in their live sets, hence the Voiski Remix is a remarkable stunner and without discussion our track of the moment. A good rework can turn a mediocre track into a hit, but there is something special happening when an excellent track meets an excellent remixer and both know each other well.

The Voiski version also creates the opportunity to bring “ Alte Seele” onto a dancefloor, so versatile that it is suitable for various phases of the night and day. One can peacefully move through the looped layers, releasing the tension, lighten up, seek comfort. Voiski is adding a notion of surrender through stretching the original into the appropriate techno length, glazing it with subtle, warm, alleviating synths, and sedating the epicness of the original track into refined dub techno. And whilst there is an audible resemblance to Basic Channel, this a very modern, golden take on dub techno that most probably won’t age any time soon. Going back to the track’s main sujet of rebirth and old souls: Voiski translates it almost similar to how it is described in the Tibetan Book of Living and Death: “knowing that I cannot escape it, I see no point in worrying about it”. So when “Alte Seele” takes you generally to the metaphorical twilight zone between death and a possible nirvana, the Voiski edit lets you smoothly space in that perpetual limbo at a very comfortable cruising speed. What's not to like about that?

Alte Seele EP was released on January 18th on Delsin records, artwork by Daniel Martin Diaz.