Four Tet has unveiled a nine-minute reworking of The Durutti Column’s track Your Shadow at Morning, following its release on the Manchester band’s latest album, Renascent.
The new version is described as floating ‘somewhere between ambient electronica, modern classical and minimal IDM – a nine-minute meditation that enhances the reflective grace of the original while opening it up further to contemporary electronic audiences’.
Renascent is The Durutti Column’s first studio album in more than 16 years, with the group’s current lineup comprising longstanding guitarist and vocalist Vini Reilly, drummer Bruce Mitchell, and producer and multi-instrumentalist Keir Stewart.
According to Four Tet, aka Keiran Hebden, the opportunity to rework Your Shadow at Morning – check it out here – followed on from his recent discovery of the Manchester band.
“It’s had a big impact on me,” he says. “I was thrilled when a new album was announced, and then when I was asked to do a remix it felt like the universe was confirming I was connected to this music.
“It’s only in the last couple of years that I learnt about The Durutti Column and explored their wonderful catalogue.”
The album marks a new chapter for the group, who emerged from Manchester’s post-punk scene and its association with Factory Records, blending classical guitar, ambient, jazz and electronic experimentation across six decades of output.
Recently, a new generation of artists and musicians have cited the band as an influence, including Blood Orange, Harry Styles, Caroline Polachek, The Avalanches, Yung Lean and Mark William Lewis.
The release of the rework also comes ahead of a special concert in Manchester – For Vini: The Music – which will take place at Albert Hall on 19 November. The performance will see Stewart and Mitchell assemble a group of musicians to perform the band’s catalogue, with Reilly unable to take part because of ongoing health issues. More information can be found here.
