Dot Allison
Premieres Remix Of “Love Died In Our Arms” - Lee 'Scratch' Perry’s Final Work
Taken from Forthcoming Entangled Remix EP Featuring Reworkings from Saint Etienne, Anton Newcombe, Lomond Campbell & The Anchoress to be released April 28, 2022 via SA Recordings
Available Today on all Streaming Platforms - Listen To Lee 'Scratch' Perry Remix of "Love Died In Our Arms"
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.
Perry’s remix serves as the first single for the upcoming Entangled Remix EP, a collection of reworkings of favorite 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, 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.”
-Dot Allison
Photo Credit: Maria Mochnacz
About Dot Allison:
Dot Allison will always be identified with the band that initially launched her, One Dove, whose Andy Weatherall-produced album Morning Dove White became a downbeat electronic landmark, but her own albums and collaborations amount to a much more significant body of work, with a commanding range across genres and narrative ambition. “The records that I have made were more like a window into my world,” she says. None more so than her first album in 12 years -- Heart-Shaped Scars. Tranquil in sound and passionate in spirit it's Allison’s most personal record yet. Framed by a backdrop of exquisitely sparse and intoxicating dream-folk and Allison’s vocal at its most ethereal, the album is, she reveals about “Love, loss and a universal longing for union that seems to go with the human condition.”
Since her debut solo album Afterglow in 1999, Allison has strived to keep the listener on a journey – and herself too. She revolts against what she has done before, to evolve and not just occupy the same space. That journey has taken her from Afterglow’s broad church (trip-hop, Tim Buckley-esque ballads, dance tracks, chilled psychedelia) to the sultry synth-pop of We Are Science (2002), the lush, baroque Exaltation Of Larks (2007) and the eclectic, rootsy drama of Room 7½ (2009). The range of guest stars on Allison’s records is equally broad: where else would you find a cast list that includes Kevin Shields, Hal David, Paul Weller, Pete Doherty and Darren Emerson. Likewise, Allison’s own guest roles with the likes of Massive Attack, Scott Walker, Slam, Philip Shepard, The Babyshambles & Pete Doherty, underlining the huge respect her peers hold her in.
Allison also hears elements of The Wicker Man film soundtrack (she once sung ‘Gently Johnny’ at Glastonbury) and the influence of folk-minded artists in her record collection, such as Linda Perhacs, Karen Dalton, Gene Clark, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Nick Drake, Opal, Mazzy Star, Brian Wilson and, most poignantly, the late Andy Weatherall. “Andy championed, signed and mentored me,” she says. “He gave me so many compilations that broadened my musical tastes… I hear his influence throughout all of my albums.”
Heart-Shaped Scars may have the richness and metaphorical depth of poetry but it’s balanced out by classic tropes of singer-songwriters through the ages. The sentiments behind ‘Cue The Tears’, ‘Love Died In Our Arms’ and ‘Goodbye’ are direct appeals from the heart; melodically too, they chime with torch-singing and soul traditions. Allison’s father was a botanist, and her mother a musician; eventually, the DNA of music took this former bio-chemistry student in a very different direction – and with good reason too. “To me, music is a sort of tonic or an antidote to a kind of longing, for a while at least,” she concludes. Heart-Shaped Scars has that very same impact: an antidote to stress, a beautiful, restorative and inspiring balm for these times.
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