Money for All
Remix projects are often commercially motivated ventures that jettison everything that made a track personal and expressive in favor of thudding, generic dance beats that will get played in clubs and on the radio.  But as is usually the case, singer David Sylvian has a different approach.  Nine Horses is his project with his brother and drummer, Steve Jansen, and electronica artist Burnt Friedman. They take songs from the 2006 releaseSnow Borne Sorrowand find new dimensions in their already multifaceted songs.  These are more reimaginings than remixes.  The slow electro-soul of "The Banality of Evil" becomes an ethereal New Orleans dirge that brings out Sylvian's baleful lyrics like a lost voodoo prayer.  "Wonderful World" emphasizes Keith Lowe's slinky double bass line, underscoring the already smoke-filled jazz noir feel this track had in its original form.  Stina Nordenstam sings the chorus on that, and the remix makes her fractured soprano an even more startling contrast with Sylvian's dolorously fudgy tenor.  Nordenstam takes the lead on the hallucinatory lullaby of "Birds Sing for Their Lives," originally a Japanese-only bonus track.  There are also new tracks: the funky and acerbic "Money for All" and the ominous, but still funky "Get the Hell Out," the latter full of glitchy beats and chamber strings.  Both are reheated in alternate versions as well.  You can't dance to the remixes ofMoney for All, but you can go deeper into the world of David Sylvian.--John Diliberto