Peaking Lights
Lucifer in Dub

There have unquestionably been dub remix albums in the past that have had a level of success, particularly in the Nineties. There was the Adrian Sherwood-spearheaded Echo Dek, the remix of Primal Scream's Vanishing Point album. And prior to this was the Mad Professor vs Massive Attack No Protection collection. It took an already downtempo set of songs into an even more downtempo space with some new elements of the songs revealed. In the world of dub remixes this is pretty good. In the world of remixes this was average.

What makes a good remix? Not being able to immediately recognise the original is an important consideration, or at least something that gives you a new perspective to a song, that allows you to understand and enjoy it in a new way. The finest remixes somehow eclipse the original and become a song in their own right, or in terms of that Fatboy Slim remix of Cornershop, take a whole band to a new level.

And then there isthe dub remix album of Peaking Lights' second album release Lucifer, which is a bit like dub squared. If Peaking Lights are characterised by psychedelic lo fi dub then this album is psychedelic lo fi dub dub, which in essence is pointless. This album makes a set of dubby songs even dubbier, by stretching the songs out with delayed vocals and rolling drums, which at best gives an even more revitalising, refreshing edge to the songs than previously.

But by the third track 'Beautiful Dub' the remixes start to flirt with the ridiculous as the listener is blessed with the sound of a off the hook phone, then thunderclouds and a siren on 'Live Dub', ending with an iPhone ringtone that leads into a doorbell and some redundant sound clips of a baby crying on 'Lo Dub High Dub'. It's a shame because the album is in fact created by Peaking Lights maestro Aaron Coyes, who has in the past has done a mighty job of providing a whoosh of fresh sounds on 936 and Lucifer. But this release has the feel of a rehashed, reheated affair.