Dot Allison shares Lee "Scratch" Perry remix

Lee "Scratch" Perry's reworking of Dot Allison's "Love Died In Our Arms" is off her Entangled Remix EP.   Photo: Monica Mochnacz

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Dot Allison follows the critically acclaimed Heart-Shaped Scars - her first solo album in a decade -with a remix of “Love Died In Our Arms” by the late Lee “Scratch” Perry, the final project of the legendary producer's career. Listen to it below. Get it from your preferred platform right here. 

 

Perry’s remix serves as the first single for the upcoming Entangled Remix EP (out April 28th via SA Recordings), a collection of reworkings of favourite tracks from the critically acclaimed album.

 

Along with Lee "Scratch" Perry's mix the EP features contributions from Saint Etienne, Anton Newcombe, Lomond Campbell and The Anchoress. Saint Etienne have always had close ties to Dot Allison, thanks to their mutual ties to Heavenly and Andrew Weatherall. Anton Newcombe is a fellow singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist and has collaborated with her recently on their work for the soundtrack to the TV series “Annika.” Lomond Campbell, a BAFTA-winning songwriter and shortlister for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, combines his ambitious creative spirit with Dot’s poignant lyricism. And The Anchoress, who has performed and collaborated in the past with renowned acts such as Simple Minds and Manic Street Preachers, brings her wide range of experiences to reimagining a never-before-released song from Dot. 

 

Dot says, “I titled this ‘Entangled Remix EP’ to tie with “Heart-Shaped Scars” but also in a way the slightly disparate influences on the EP spanning decades from when I was first influenced by dub music & did a remix for St. Etienne to Anton in Berlin & the Anchoress now.

 

Of all the tracks on the Entangled Remix EP, none hold a greater importance than Lee “Scratch” Perry’s remix of “Love Died In Our Arms,” the final work of his long and storied career. Perry works brilliantly as he always has within the framework of Dot’s original song, weaving his signature dub beats into the music without distracting from Dot’s moving singing and songwriting. 

 

Dot Allison is indebted to the strides made by Perry, with her origins in the influential, electronic-dub-heavy trio One Dove and her early solo projects showcasing many of the ambitious sonic experimentations that were so fearlessly brought to the forefront by Perry. Through his music and in everyday life, Perry always lived by his spirituality and deep appreciation for the world around him – themes that make up the core of the ethereal, world-appreciating music on Heart-Shaped Scars. As a longtime fan and sharer of musical values, Dot reached out to Perry about remix and production work on her new music. 

 

“I contacted Lee to ask if he’d consider doing a mix of ‘Love Died In Our Arms’ and got a lovely reply saying ‘yes’.  He later confirmed the parts had arrived and the mix was going well.  So I was deeply saddened to hear he’d passed soon after and so soon after we’d been in touch.  Naturally I assumed the mix had not been completed and left it at that.  So I was stunned two days later to hear, from Lee’s wife, that my song had been “the last thing in his life that Lee worked on.”  As if that wasn’t enough, she responded to my email a day or so later expressing my gratitude and deepest sympathies by sending the finished mix.  I genuinely cannot put into words what a profound moment and an honour and gift it felt under the circumstances - I was completely blown away.  That my co-producer Fiona Cruickshank was there with me when I first heard it turned this into a really magical moment.  I feel a duty to Lee’s own artistry and his fans to release his last remix and I do so with a deep gratitude to Lee, his wife and family for still forwarding me this mix under such sad circumstances, I remain deeply moved and grateful for my music to have been touched by Lee’s musical genius and spirit.”