Deciderata – “Reflections:1”

Deciderata’s Reflections:1 is a weird experiment that actually works. This Philadelphia band went back to songs from their three albums and turned them into completely different versions. Producer Chris Morano spent four months in his home studio reworking these tracks, and honestly, they sound nothing like the originals.

“Medicine” was a hard-rock closer with a killer rap section. Now it’s reggae, which sounds crazy, but it works. “Speak To Me” went from quiet and sad to screamo. It’s a pretty extreme makeover for both songs.

Chris brought AI into his process, running songs through different versions and then rebuilding everything by hand in Adobe Audition. The band members live all over the country now, so getting everyone together wasn’t happening. This was his way of bringing their old material back to life without needing everyone in the same room.

The genre-jumping is all over the place, funk, nu-metal, gospel, jazz, reggae. For a band that never fit into one category anyway, it makes sense. Morano recorded everything at his home studio, SickSkully, and handled the mixing and mastering himself.

If you want to hear a band reimagine their own work in a pretty fearless way, check this out. Follow Deciderata on social media for Reflections:2 coming this summer.