Sir Ivan – Imagine: The Remixes

Powerhouse EDM artist and noted philanthropist Sir Ivan has scored with a string of covers and originals since his 2001 debut with a cover of John Lennon’s seminal solo song “Imagine”. The recent terrorist attacks in France, Turkey, and Belgium inspired Ivan to revisit his first major success by reaching out to his high profile friends in the genre. His offer to allow these various producers a chance to create three different remixes of Ivan’s song results in wide-ranging, surprisingly diverse collection of electronic dance music paying equal attention to making listeners think as they do making them move. Ivan’s voice retains the same skyward gazing, hopeful tone that distinguished his version over a decade ago and the guest producers have reframed his vocal in inventive, extraordinary ways.  

The album’s opening collaborators set the initial tone. 7^th Heaven Mix and Production, followed by Dirty Pop, score big with boisterous and free-ranging remixes focusing on the core EDM strengths of Ivan’s song and never straying too far from that. They are thrilling numbers despite the few chances they take in comparison to the rest of the album. Producers like Dor Dekel and Marc Stout, however, show much more fearlessness, even if they end up landing in slightly different places. Chicago based Stout has an artistic sensibility informing the release, but his first fidelity remains to the song’s entertainment value and he increases that exponentially. Dekel never loses sight of his mandate to keep people moving, but his vision encompasses a much more personal approach investing the tracks with surprising passion. Project Bassline, much like the album’s first two trios of remixes, has a clear mission to engage listeners physically and they, arguably, succeed at a much higher level. The bass and percussion have much more power here than earlier and post-production effects that give them impressive grandeur. They sound much closer to the listener’s ears as well, as if they are practically bearing down on you from within the speakers.

This European flair for engaging the listener continues with Roger Shah, but the legendary German EDM composer brings that together with a powerful artistic sense. His inventiveness has a fair supply of playfulness as well that reminds listeners, despite the seriousness of the song’s lyrical message, we are here to have some fun as well. The Stadium remixes of “Imagine” come at the listeners with their chest puffed out, head held high, and never let up from the first moments on. Imagine: The Remixes closes with The Wideboys taking their turn with the song. Their remixes recall the Stadium offerings some, but there’s an added subtlety here missing from the Stadium work.

Sir Ivan could not have dreamed of better collaborators for this album alternating between retrospective and brave new release. Sir Ivan’s original cover has hardly dated at all since its 2001 release, much like Lennon’s original, but these remixes apply challenging textures and revitalize the song for a new generation.

9 out of 10 stars.

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/sirivanofficial

URL: http://sirivan.com/

Cyrus Rhodes