Released on:
Lifeforms (Single)
Runtime: 9:16 (listed as 9:03)
‘Path 4’ is what is generally considered the ‘single version’ of ‘Lifeforms’. It, however, bears little in common with the album version (heard just prior as ‘Path 3’). There are a handful of samples – jungle sounds, warped human voices and what sounds like an elephant – that also appear in the album version, as well as its ambient cousin ‘Ill Flower‘, but otherwise the two tracks are totally different pieces of music. It was a bold move to release them both under the same name, especially given the high profile of both the album and single.
Garry compares the single version to the work of composer Michael Nyman, and there is a delicate, minimalistic piano element to it that certainly has similarities to some of Nyman’s work. Liz Fraser’s vocals are used more in this track than any other on the single, possibly because it’s the one she originally sang along to. At times, her voices are heavily layered; elsewhere, she’s left to sing solo, and extensively, her vocals left to their original take without the time limitations of the samplers. While still veering through various sections, subtle differences occurring between bars, the piece uses its nine minute runtime to introduce elements individually and build up to a crescendo, not too dissimilarly to the previous path. The rhythmic elements are less traditionally percussive than on most of the single, running closer to a breakbeat sound, that makes the track almost danceable. Indeed, the combination of beats, piano, soaring vocals and synths makes the track the closest thing to ‘Papua New Guinea‘ since that very track, so it is perhaps unsurprising that it was chosen as a single.
Other than the vocals which, of course, are used throughout the rest of the single, there are also bass sounds found in ‘Life Form Ends‘, and a tapping noise from ‘Cerebral‘ used in the track. Two tracks later, ‘Path 6’ acts as a brief reprise of ‘Path 4’. The track was first broadcast at the start of the 3D Headspace Tour on the Mixing It show.
Credits
Written by The Future Sound of London & Elizabeth Fraser.
Vocals by Elizabeth Fraser.
Produced by The Future Sound of London.
Engineered by Yage.
Recorded at Earthbeat Studios and September Sound, London.
Fractional Difference 