People always whinge about films being too long. I’ve been guilty of it too.

Usual refrains along the lines of “it could have ended an hour earlier,” or “the middle third dragged.” Moving forward, I’m making more of an effort to trust the director. If they need three hours to fully realise the film, then so be it. On the plus side, I love sinking into a motorised leather armchair, so the longer I can justify staying in a cinema, the better.

While I’m veering from film into electronic music, the same principle holds when sitting with Loidis’s remix (Brian Leeds) of james K’s (Jamie Krasner)  “Peel”: the artists know what they’re doing, best to trust their instincts.

Across 14 minutes and 16 seconds, Loidis drizzles the original with a tasty minimal syrup. Sub-bass notes and shimmering synths move in lockstep, while the songstress’s vocals find gaps to peak through the rich ooze. What’s special about minimal, and someone with Loidis’s command of it, is that the sonics never rise too high nor sink too low. I picture a wave rolling toward the shore, never quite breaking. From above, it traces a perfect diagonal across some remote surf spot.

As I sifted through comments on social media, I noticed James K replying to Loidis with, “I could build a home in this sound and just live there.” It lands because it’s true; the track’s rhythm and gradual evolution exude a sense of comfort and safety.

Unbeknownst to me, the two were close before the remix came to life, and James K told me it felt as though “Brian had pulled the remix right out of my head.” The New Yorker had always wanted a minimal, long-form take on one of the album’s tracks, and here, that wish is realised. Listen closely, and you can tell Loidis spent real time with it, shaping and refining to ensure it cut through and carried feeling.

Originally, he was set to remix a different track from Friend, but the moment he had the “Peel” stems, something clicked, and he was buried in it before he’d even registered the pivot. When asked what kind of sonic diving boards he was leaping off, Brian points to two touchstones — Ricardo Villalobos and Vladislav Delay.

The rework also marked a learning curve, being the first time Loidis had ever tackled a track with vocals. Excitingly, he sees it as a door left open, with future originals likely to lean into vocal collaborations. The proof is already here. It’d be remiss not to give an honourable mention to Priori (Francis Latreille), too, for a stunning job on the mixdown.

Wrapping it up in a neat bow, Brian signs off: