ILUITEQ is an Italian electronic duo comprised of artists Sergio Calzoni and Andrea Bellucci. The pair's work centres around climatic soundscapes glittered with minimal percussion, often downtempo, and splatters of tonal beauty. Their last full-length album, Reflections from the Road, boasts heavenly mixes of calming and colourful disposition. These have all been given the remix treatment by a cast of like-minded producers on Reflections Revisited, an eclectic collection of effectively environmental ambient tracks.
Among the highlights of these collaborations, Ocoeur renders "The Passage" even more minimal than the original iteration, stretching out the original's ethereal gush with unnerving elasticity; gradually and increasingly building, the remix achieves a restrained profundity. Miktek's remix of "Long Way, New Home" emphasizes the track's dreamy synthetic ostinato by centralizing it in the mix and drawing boundaries around it with punchy percussion; the result is a track primed for a sci-fi soundtrack. Meanwhile, Giulio Aldinucci reigns in the frenetic energy of "Runaway" by jettisoning the original rhythms and Martina Bertoni's remix of "It Happened In July" amplifies the track's glacial swells, creating a significantly tense mood that grips as it rouses. "Before and After," as remixed by Ithaki, is more driving than the original, with reverberated drums adding a pronounced sense of movement while highlighting the track's darker crevices.
ILUITEQ has enhanced the collection with two outtakes from the Reflections from the Road sessions: "Don't Run Away" and "The Road." These tracks speak the same language as the surrounding tracks, offering innocent and uncomplicated forays into dancefloor ambient. Notably, "Don't Run Away" features gentle voices circulating persistent rhythms and stirringly simplistic notation.
Reflections Revisited by ILUITEQ is a suitable companion to rainy days at home, long bus journeys, and meditative moments. It invites the listener on a transcendental journey, where the abstraction of instrumental electronic music serves the explicit purpose of soothing and inspiring glimpses of the mystical.
★★★★