Calvin Harris – I’m Not Alone (Deadmau5 Remix)

When a friend first suggested I listen to this Deadmau5 remix of Calvin Harris‘ ‘I’m Not Alone’, I was beyond sceptical. The original, from Harris’ second (and much richer) long player, 2009′s Ready For The Weekend, was and remains, in my opinion, one of the better examples of well executed house music in the last few years. One of many on the album that spotlighted Harris’ confidence in his own singing abilities, the track was memorable not necessarily for his slightly mopey vocals – ebbing and flowing appropriately and reflecting the song’s intrinsic hope – but for the massive synths that arrive on the scene almost as soon as the down and out Scotsman realises that indeed, he’s not alone. Those jumpy chords, soon joined by an unremitting bass line and some more understated hand claps and assorted percussion gave the song the sort of dynamism missing from so much of contemporary dance music. The ‘drop’ has become an increasingly cliched convention, devoid of any excitement and boring for its inevitability. With ‘I’m Not Alone’, Harris brought the appeal of the drop back, in a big way.

Which is precisely why I was not overly eager to get involved with Deadmau5′s treatment of the track. For one, on a first perfunctory listen in my Gmail player, Deadmau5 seemed to have committed a mortal error in his evaluation of just what was important in Harris’ original and what wasn’t. Any remix worth its weight in salt will inexorably be centrally concerned with the process of selection. Good remixes thrive in picking the best bits – obvious or obscure – of the original and reworking them to draw attention to their goodness and make them better still. In disavowing the significance of that incredible synth work (not too far removed from Eurotrash roots but far enough removed to be appealingly ironic), Deadmau5, a Canadian three years Harris’ senior, had patently made a grave error. Overlooking those swelling synths, Deadmau5 had staunched the lifeblood of this song and his resulting remix would suffer as a result.

That Harris’ work even needed to be remixed was a point of contention early on, too. I mentioned to the friend who provided me with this track that there are some songs that are inherently beyond remixing, that simply don’t call for re-treatment because they are so obviously whole, thick and complex at the outset. ‘I’m Not Alone’ was one such song. Or so I thought. Deadmau5′ remix is an incredibly impressive example of reworking not just a song, but the entire mood of the piece too, in one fell swoop. Regardless of what you think of Deadmau5′s brand of progressive trance bordering on dubstep, edging towards house (particularly when Kaskade is involved), it’s hard to question the significance of the work he’s done here. Walking on particularly bleak days, I often find it hard to listen to this remix, now refocused around the foundations of Harris’ dejected “I can’t do this…” refrain and made eerily atmospheric by lowering the tempo and urgency of the original. There’s little doubt that it has far less of the energy of the original too, but it hasn’t so much lost potency as had this power redirected. Where Harris’ poignant vocals serve as a jumping off point for those synths in ‘I’m Not Alone’, they are the preoccupation of the existential remix. It might be an anthem for the self-doubting but Deadmau5′s remix is also a lesson in reevaluating: sometimes even the best deserves a second look.

Calvin Harris – I’m Not Alone (Deadmau5 Remix)