Exclusive Track Premiere: ‘Remind Me,’ Brooke Annibale (jcm Remix)

Indie singer-songwriter Brooke Annibale is known for crafting and combining soulful acoustics with poignant lyrics. She began writing songs in elementary school and by the age of 14, she was learning to play guitar. Now, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based musician has added an electronic edge to her sound by remixing songs from her fourth and latest album, The Simple Fear (October 2015 via Brooke Annibale Music). Here, we are pleased to premiere Jeremy McDonald’s remix of “Remind Me,” the second of four arrangements that Annibale will release.

This delicately hypnotic track is both soothing and somber, its beats more expressive and emotive than upbeat. “I wanted to see what would happen if the darker electronic sounds that are mostly only layered into the production of my music were allowed to be at the forefront of the song,” Annibale explains. “With a lot of remixes, the track has more energy and goes in a dance-beat direction. The goal of these remixes was almost the opposite.” Because McDonald kept elements of the string compositions in tact, for Annibale, the remix for offers a new perspective yet still “feels grounded in the original.”

“Remind Me” is one of the singer’s favorite tracks from the album, and came about in the midst of what Annibale calls “writer’s drought.” It broke the block; she wrote and demoed the song in one day. “I didn’t have a conscious subject in mind when I was writing it, but months later I recognized a lot of my own personal experience in the song,” she recalls. Regarding the wistful lyrics (“Just remind me / It only takes a second / To say I’m sorry / Sorry”), Annibale says, “I’d had an argument with someone that really subconsciously altered the relationship, and I suppose part of me was waiting for this apology that never came.”

FOR MORE ON BROOKE ANNIBALE, VISIT HER WEBSITE.