In January of this year, Deaf Havana released top 5 album All These Countless Nights; 9 months on, ahead of their UK tour, they have released a reworked version of the album – essentially a recreation of the songs. Deaf Havana are not one to shy away from this, as they have always been keen to experiment in their music.
This album seems like a completely new invention. Songs such as ‘Sing’ and ‘L.O.V.E’ have been reinvented from energetic rock to folk-y pop songs, comparable to Jason Mraz. The introduction of strings provides a lot more depth to the music, particularly evident in album opener ‘Ashes, Ashes’. Overall, as far as deluxe albums go this is something special; the band have showed their musical reaches in multiple ways. This is a re-release worth listening to.
As far as deluxe albums go, this is something special
However, some of the songs lack any real invention. The reworked version of ‘Happiness’ stands out in this respect; you could easily mistake it for the original as the musical ideas added are very tame at the face of it, and almost seems a bit far-fetched to be called a rework.
So what is the motive behind Deaf Havana’s reworked music? In a documentary produced about the making of their third album Old Souls, lead singer James Vecki-Giloudi talked of how most of the band’s songs are layered, so it is very easy to take a song back to one layer and rebuild it in a different way. In an interview with Kerrang about the reworked release Vecki-Giloudi stated that “I tried to get as far away from the original tracks as we could.”
Many tracks feature the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, which can put songs in a whole new light. Vecki Giloudi stated “we really want fans to buy something worth spending their money on.” Given the motives of the band, it is not just an opportunity to grab a few extra bucks. It is likely we will see some of these reworked songs on their UK tour next month.
Rating: 4/5