Listen to Julia Holter’s “Fastest Star” from Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s ‘Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined’

Beverly Glenn-Copeland's 1986 ambient/new age cult classic Keyboard Fantasies has been given a new spin via current artists who were inspired by it on Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined, which is out today via Transgressive. Those artists who've either remixed, reworked or outright covered Keyboard Fantasies songs include Julia Holter, Blood Orange, Bon Iver & Flock of Dimes, Arca, Jeremy Dutcher, Anna Roxanne, Kelsey Lu and Joseph Shabason.

While many of the tracks had already been shared before today's release, one that hadn't is Julia Holter's "Fastest Star," which is a radical rework of "Winter Astral" that adds darker hues and vocals to Beverly's original. "When I first heard Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s music, I remember a physical sensation of melting—melting into the swirling, kinetic, rich synth sound world he had made," says Julia. "I felt some kind of sense of relief and relax—catharsis? — not to be cheesy, but it was a physical reaction to the sounds. In this music, there’s a healing equilibrium — a buzzing warmth, something electrical that transfers out from the sounds into the body. I have a physical response a lot with music, but here it felt distinct, there was a kind of balance and clarity to it. In 'Keyboard Fantasies,' there are a variety of bell sounds with firm attacks that can mark time, in contrast to the warm bases solidifying the harmonies underneath and in counterpoint with the synth leads and horns articulating the gentle melodies, and the dancing, hissing pulses of the drum machine. I almost have this visual in my head while listening that he’s conducting it all, and over all of this, his warm, soaring voice appears every now and then, checking in on us."

As to her remix, Julia says, "Working on the remix to 'Winter Astral' ended up being, predictably, cathartic, during an isolating and complicated time for me in the pre-vaccine pandemic. I imagine the atmosphere of last year made the physical experience of listening to Glenn’s music even more potent. I didn’t know at first what to do, because there was a clarity and timbral balance already there and so well-blended in the piece. I think I just spent some time absorbing the loving energy he had transferred into the music, and felt my way through it."

You can listen to "Fastest Star" and the original "Winter Astral," along with all of Keyboard Fantasies Remixed below.