Jon Cooper (Turtle) is a name that should be ringing bells for you by now. A prominent artist in his own right, Turtle has also been prevalent in the blogging community displaying his impressive remix game. Not one to follow the crowd, he's very particular with his choice of artists to remix, and the elements of each track of his are carefully considered with the same finesse as a Michelin star chef who knows that a masterpiece can only be created with the finest of ingredients. It is this eclectic, yet purposeful song choice matched with exemplary composition that has made Turtle a paragon in the production world, and with accomplished remixes of Lyla Fox and Phoria already under his belt, Cooper once again demonstrates enviable talent with his rework of fellow Beatnik Creative labelmate and frequent Clean Bandit collaborator, Eliza Shaddad, on her new single, "Waters". As mentioned, one of Turtle's most admirable qualities is the respect he pays to the source material. In all his remixes to date, he allows the original song to shine through, building upon each constituent organically to create a truly unique and honest interpretation of the artwork. The same philosophy can be found in this remix of "Waters". Cooper allows Eliza's vocals to gestate over the slight reverb of the original guitar riff, effectively morphing the contemporary folk style into a dense, brooding epic. Taking cues from the greats of the genre such as UNKLE, the second and third act descend into trip-hop territory with disjointed percussion signatures and sweeping string arrangements, and what we're left with is a rework so seamless, that it's hard to imagine there was any other conceived composition. We wait with bated breath to hear a follow-up to his incredible Who Knows EP, but as long as Turtle continues to release sterling remixes such as this one, you won't hear too many a complaint coming from us.
Eliza Shaddad