Album Notes

“This music is not complicated by any means, but the musician has an innate sense of how to make it sound good.”
~ Robosexual
Since 1996 Remora’s Brian John Mitchell has been pursuing his own flavor of guitar terrorism & songwriting while drawing comparisons to the likes of Tom Verlaine, Roy Montgomery, David Pearce, & Hayden. Remora’s sound has been diverse over the years with a different focus on each release, from the acoustic guitar driven Alcohol EPs (2002), to the a cappella EP songs i sing (2007), to the loop driven Ambient Drones for One Guitar (2000), to the post apocalyptic pop of Enamored (2005).
Derivative is Remora’s first full length since 2005’s Enamored. Remora’s been much more active live over the past few years & as a result the new album is filled with solos & overwhelming swells of guitar sound meant to fill a bar over any crowd noise. It showcases the most aggressive side of Remora caught on disc.
Derivative is a collection of loop driven songs where the initial loops were built off of short hooks from some of Mitchell’s favorite songs. The songs are derived from hits by Journey & Blue Oyster Cult as well as less known personal favorites by Pere Ubu, Hefner, & Warrior Soul. The musical results are both instantly familiar & brand new.
If you are into aggressive ambient guitar work or if you just sit around daydreaming about things like Justin Broadrick (Jesu) covering Bob Dylan or Aidan Baker (Nadja) working through a Joe Jackson song (& who doesn’t?), then Derivative’s for you.