Pete Blaker might be editor of choice for folks such as Hunee and DJ Harvey, but Atlantis Atlantis (Sonic Refurbished) is his first “legit” full-length adventure. One of the few where he’s had access to the master tapes. Having remixed a track from Rheinzand’s first album, Music For Dreams offered him a shot at reworking the whole of their second. Dub is one of Pete’s touchstones, so he suggested something along the lines of Mad Professor’s magnificent manhandling of Massive Attack.

The first fruit of this endeavour was the single, Facciamo L’Amore, released roughly a year ago. Pete stripped the song back, keeping the harp-like zing of zither strings and snatches of Spanish guitar, while slowing it to a crawl. Ethereal, and super seductive, nocturnal and narcotic, the results resembled the work of Jay Glass Dubs. We now get a further five tracks.

These newly nuanced numbers fall into two camps: dubbed out disco, and beatless, more dream-like ambience. None of it’s Blaker’s usual dance-floor detonating gear, where he brilliantly builds and explodes tension. These are delicate, sophisticated deconstructions, spinning everything out to, and often over, ten minutes. The layers of detail effortlessly drawing you in. Ringing, chiming, and swirling around, there are glimpses of keys and rhythm guitar. Cascades of congas and Fender Rhodes flashes. Some of it sourced from Rheinzand’s originals. Some of it played by Pete and his pals. Love Games has its title looped and dropped trippily into infinity. Orange Bun’s synths become a subconsciousness-sucking near subliminal swell. Ibiza Macht Frei has horns, sax and trumpet, serenade washes of shifting secluded tides. A soundtrack to surf massaging moonlit shores. Its bottom-end a glitchy dub techno thundering. Hotel Cathargo flickers and flutters. All of this is so incredibly rich and deep that, to be fully appreciated, it needs to be listened to loud. Allowing the sound to surround you. It’s The Gift Of Love, though, that really delivers on the project’s dubwise promise. Its warm, womb-like bass wrapped about sustained sighs and ripples of reverb. Piano playing romantically in its dark. It’s  not reggae, but it was never meant to be.

Pete Blaker’s “sonic refurbish” of Rheinzand’s Atlantis Atlantis can be pre-ordered from Music For Dreams.

If you’d like to learn more about Pete’s process please check out the interview / article that we put together for the latest issue of Disco Pogo.