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Manuel Tur covers ‘Swans Reflecting Elephants’

Having produced a vast number of remixes until 2009 you might think that Manuel Tur is a notorious +1 – but this would leave to the wrong impression since the twenty-something producer was already on top of the game back three years ago with his own tracks and through collaborations with Dplay.

But it was probably this one track in 2010 which was something called a game changer for Tur: his ‘Syphon Drum Remix’ for Solomun‘s 12″ ‘Cloud Dancer’ opened up a differnet angle for the mid-twenty producer.

In the last months, Tur turned more to remixing artists such as Azari & III, Jazzanova, Wildbirds & Peacedrum, Little Dragon, Festland, and Jacob Korn, and by this expanding his focus to more alt-pop and established artists while also slowing down his release rhythm. Maybe this new direction is also due to him releasing his sophomore album on Freerange Records in April.

Following up on his remarkable debut full length 0201 from 2009, Tur focussed on his own imprint Mild Pitch for a while, where he released the 12″ ‘About to Fall’ in November 2011. Following up in April on Freerange Records April 23rd, the new album Swans Reflecting Elephants is reported to being more “dance floor-oriented” than 0201, and also featuring vocals by Mark Bell aka Blakkat as well as Elina Monova.

Also, it is a nice reference to a painting by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí, taken from his Paranoic-critical period. “The painting ‘Swans Reflecting Elephants’ worked as a metaphor for me when recording the album and searching for a general sound“, Tur says. “Being interested in both accessible and poppy sounds, as well as rather abstract textures, I wanted to merge these two opposed sides like Dalí brought together the two very different animal species that are delicate swans and hugely powerful elephants.  I like how Dalí mirrored them to create a cohesive fusion of the two and I wanted to achieve the same with the music.  I find the fuzzy setting, the obscure colours and the dull light in the painting very inspiring.

Let’s see what this has in store musicwise. If Tur can keep pace with his production quality since 2009, there might be a true deep house highlight coming up in 2012.

Manuel Tur – Swans Reflecting Elephants:
01. Back to Me?02. Phantom Ride
03. High Needs Low?04. Feel
05. Maybe Next Lifetime feat. Blakkat
06. Mirrors
07. Obsidian
08. Just Love feat. Elina Monova
09. Serenity
10. I’m Alive feat. Blakkat

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Published February 29, 2012.