- Tevo Howard can sometimes seem held back by his devotion to the retro sounds of Chicago, but you wouldn't discern that from The Age of Compassion. Although it still exhibits some level of captivation with a Fingers Inc.-style brand, it's less about the streamlined clatter of a 909 and more about the delicacies of melody and timbre, which, in this instance, are deluxe.
Howard disposes of percussion altogether on the original mix, leaving the slender sum of three melodic elements to gel for four minutes: a three-note bassline, a brisk sequence pattern and broken, inverted triads on a vibraphone tone. The fact that it doesn't require any further dressing-up points to the comeliness of the concert. With beats only on the ones and threes, snares and hats in moderation and an extra layer of bass, the house mix does little to disturb the dovetailing and rather adds an unobtrusive structure that stretches it gratifyingly longer.
So do the remixes, both of which approach the material with admiration and fashion it anew with adroitness. Donnacha Costello finds a place between early Detroit techno and '90s bleep to shift the focus more towards rhythm and trancey hooks, building a danceable suspense which is eventually resolved by a reprieve of Howard's chords. These play a more prominent role in Aera's effort, though they're moulded and mashed like pitch-bending Play-Doh. This is the tone of a more doped-up interpretation, relaxingly swung, whose disco beat is a success under the source. It's hard to think what wouldn't be.
Tracklist A1 The Age Of Compassion (House Mix)
A2 The Age Of Compassion (Donnacha Costello Rough Rub Mix)
B1 The Age Of Compassion (Aera Recompassion Mix)
B2 The Age Of Compassion