Artist: Max Graham
Title: Tell You
Label: Hope Recordings
By: Simon Jones | 14 August 2002
Tracklist:

• A: Original Mix
• B: Luke Fair Mix

Max Graham "Tell You"

Max Graham follows up his Shoreline EP and the AA side Sepia / Dying To Survive by dusting down this long lost yet much accoladed earlier production of his entitled Tell You. Keeping it strictly Canadian, Luke Fair has been enlisted to work the track and bring it bang up to date. But is it any good, well thats what I'm here to tell you.

The Original Mix features all the trademark Graham synth arrangements and rolling percussion, all wrapped together tightly to form a nice consistent bassline over which a vocal is weaved subtly. As we move forward, the track really fires off into the break as the vocal takes full control before Max bombards us with beats and the tracks onward faster and harder than before. Peaktime carnage at it's finest.

Luke Fair takes the track off in a rather different direction, holding back on the synths and introducing some dubbed out breathy percussion, which edges in layer upon layer until the vocal is allowed to control the direction of the track, and Luke, showing that he makes excellent use of vocals turns this into more of a house mix than a full on progressive mix. A splendid alternative to the more progressive original, and an excellent reinterpretation to boot.

With both Max and Luke set to make names for themselves in the coming months, it's just proof that along with the likes of MV, yet another Canadian son, that the country currently is a hotbed for outstanding production talents.