Commemorating the 30th anniversary of
Cowboy Junkies
' 1988 breakthrough
The Trinity Session
, dub-techno producer
Deadbeat
and singer/songwriter
Fatima Camara
, both of whom are Canadians residing in Berlin, recorded a full interpretation of the iconic album.
Trinity Thirty
attempts to preserve the lonesome, late-night vibe of
the Junkies
' mixture of originals, covers, and traditional tunes, keeping the arrangements stripped down to the basics.
, of course, was famously recorded in a church, taking advantage of the room's natural reverb, with the band and their guest musicians circled around a single microphone, and nothing was overdubbed or edited.
and
Camara
didn't attempt the exact same recording process, but they did record using single microphones in a spacious studio, so the results sound vast and open. Even though the interpretation lacks the primarily acoustic instrumentation of the original, it feels surprisingly less electronic than one would expect. There's some dubby echo, to be sure, but the synths manage to have a similar glow as the guitar, fiddle, and dobro heard on
. Several of the tracks are slower and longer than
' versions, and "I Don't Get It" and "Walking After Midnight" are combined as a medley. Stretching the songs further out and making them even spacier helps contribute to the overall mood, which is a bit haunting but overall quite soothing. It brings to mind the non-disco acts on
Italians Do It Better
, or some of
Tricky
's more subdued moments.
is a noble gesture paying tribute to a time-honored classic. ~ Paul Simpson