Our Blood — a criminal record: the case of the unknown reprise & Thief/Collusion Reprise (instrumental outtake)
Okay, let’s face the music:
One of my intentions when I began publishing EXTRACTIONS was to offer examples from each of my albums which aren't available elsewhere — outtakes or demos that led to a particular release. Our Blood is different in that all extra material from its final version went missing along the way due to breakdowns — both mechanical & distantly personal — & a break-in — which I took personally because it was probably someone close-by from my neighborhood who lifted a laptop holding my working mixes while I was out of the house at actual work.
But, I did find this audio oddity last week called Thief/Collusion Reprise — not from a box in my attic like other recent audio posts, but from a computer file I uncovered while looking for something else that I ended up not finding.
At first I suspected it was a just a bonus track I forgot about for the outside-of-US-only release of Our Blood that included Thief (Hofner Version Demo), Witness (Wurli Version Demo) & Gang (EPI Version Demo). I hadn’t heard the album since I approved the special edition master, so I looked into it & found I was mistaken. I couldn't imagine why this fourth demo existed. It seemed strange that I would've made an instrumental two-song combo-bite of variations for no reason. Then, I unearthed another file I didn't know I had: a draft of artwork the overseas label had sent for an EP proposal that was never carried out.
After seeing this, I recalled that they had wanted to solicit a "club mix" version of Our Blood's fourth album track, Collusion. At first, at the time, I couldn't conceive of such a thing, but the label owner reminded me of the Everything But The Girl remixes. As a fan of their recordings, I courted the concept. I received a first beat-clubbed remix of the song, but it just didn't sit right. Then, there was another stab by a different re-mixer — an intentionally anonymous figure who was allegedly famous. That reputation alone compelled me to dismiss the whole idea.
Our Blood was released in 2011 after surviving natural & unnatural incidents on many actionable levels, musically & privately, which I'll account for soon enough in Our Blood — a criminal record (background check).
But for now, I present: Thief/Collusion Reprise (instrumental outtake):
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