The Vitals:

Label: Demulcent / Deep Sink
Genre: Trance
Number of Tracks: 8 + 1 Hidden (Prostrate (Smart Casual Mix))
How you can obtain a copy: www.demulcent.com and Beatport.com in a few weeks.

Factor Scores:

• Production Quality: 7.1
• Programming and Arrangement: 8.1
• Entertainment Quality: 7.8
• Total: 7.7 – Good

Summary:

If you have been around the Christian dance scene for any amount of time, you have probably heard of Siminz or heard something by him. This New Zealander has been producing tracks and remixing for a long time now. He’s done it all from house to breaks to trance to a little drum and bass. His specialty is trance though. He’s the type of producer who has that commercial sound so refined that even if you hate commercial trance, you’ll love his work. Even tracks that seem like they would be total cheese because of the vocals, like Faith of a Child, come off in a surprising way. If you want any more proof of this, just go ask Paul van Dyk. Siminz’s Conviction vinyl popped up on one of his play lists last year.

As mentioned before Faith of a Child seems like it would be a cheesy release. The vocal is a series of sampled children all repeating variations of Jesus’ words in Luke 18 about having faith of a child. In addition to the title track and its remixes, there are three additional tracks: Fruit Salad, Day Break and Prostrate (Smart Casual Mix) all of which steal the title track’s thunder to some degree. The remixers on this project included: Quillroader, Tresice, Joel Armstrong, Spindrift, and Robonaut.

Factor Scores:

Production Quality: 7.1

Like the other releases from Demulcent, this one has good production values. The mastering is nicely handled, as is the mixing. The one downside to the production quality is that many of the remixes seem to have rather “flat” or “dim” sounding hats and snares. They just do not see to snap in a nice crisp way. In some cases even the kicks seem a tad weak, but they still cut through the baseline nicely. That’s just my opinion though.

Programming & Arrangement: 8.1

For the most part Siminz hit a homerun in this area of the EP. Some of the highlights here include massive amounts of vocal chopping by Joel Armstrong for his remix. Personally, I wish he had let the vocals come out a bit more than they did, but the editing here was nicely done. Tresice’s mix also stood out as having some particularly nice programming and arrangement.

What took the rating about an 8.0 however were Day Break and the remix of Prostrate. These two tracks alone could have been a vinyl release. They feel far superior in the composition than even the original mix of Faith of a Child. Unlike Faith of a Child, you can feel a real passion in these two tracks. That passion really does not even show up in the remixes either outside of maybe the Quillroader mix.

Entertainment Quality: 7.8

It’s a great CD. There is no denying that. The vocal content will hold it back in some secular arenas, but Christian radio and club DJs should love Faith of a Child. As a straight listen, you will probably be drawn more to the last half of the CD as the most entertaining tracks ended up there.

Total: 7.7 – Good

This is the highest score for a Demulcent release yet and it deserves it. The lowest points on the CD are still above average in nature. The title track is accessible to people new to dance music without totally alienating veterans of the scene. There still may be some debate regarding the cheese factor of some of the vocals, but musically, it is a solid release.

Dave’s Take:

Demulcent again is showing an increase in quality. One contributing factor to this I think is that Faith of a Child is stronger track to begin with than I See Grace. I do wish that the remixes came off a bit better, but they are not bad. In my opinion, the best tracks on the EP are Day Break and Prostrate (Smart Casual Mix). If you are hesitant about buying this release because of the vocals in the title track, these two tracks will make it worth you money.