Sendelica/Secret Knowledge/The Orb - Windmill 12"

 Strange Fish ‎(Seventeen)

Okay, so here is the first 12" released by Fruits de Mer Records or its sister labels. It's also the first 12" by Sendelica, if you don't count the limited to 10 (ten!) lathe cut EP Disco Daze put out last year. Of course this is not a"pure" Sendelica release since there are four mixes of one single track and in addition to two mixes by Sendelica's Consterdine we've also got two mixes by The Orb! Is Fruits de Mer going electronic, ambient or even house or techno you might ask? Well, not exactly, thank The Great Sea Creature, but they seem to be widening the horizon a bit. The Secret Knowledge connection here is that the track is a tribute to Helen Donlon, the wife of their writer Kris Need who died in 2018. Singer Wonder Schneider, who sang with Secret Knowledge 25 years earlier gave the track its title and poured her heart into it as well.

"Windmill" is one of those ambient, atmospheric slow and beautiful Sendelica tracks with jazzy female vocals and sax. I love the emotions it gives, it's a sort of praise to life, love and peace I guess. First, we get a Consterdine's Floyd Mix of the track and it indeed brings to mind Pink Floyd a lot. Not the early, but TDSOTM era and after that, which is still cool. Then Chocolate Orb Dubbed Mix is rather different and proves that Alex Paterson is still the master of ambient house. This version is ultra dreamy and hazy, I like it a lot. The vocals are replaced by some spoken word by the late Helen Donlon to a great affect. Consterdine's Original Mix sounds the most like Sendelica which of course it is... Simply beautiful and tranquil, an excellent job. Finally, Chocolate Orb Chilled Mix that also has parts of Helen's speech at a psychedelic drug conference drifts in aether like nothing you have ever heard. Trippy, uplifting and dreamy! There seem to be three different editions of this 12" beauty and at least the black version comes with a bonus CD Making of Windmill that I really would like to hear as well. Recommended!

sendelica.bandcamp.com