The Great Wide Open (Reimagined)

The Great Wide Open (Reimagined) is a mini-album consisting of brand new versions and arrangements of songs taken from the its predecessor, The Great Wide Open. These songs have been completely reimagined and recorded in such a way that they are very different from the original versions.

“When you’re writing music you go through so many different stages and iterations off a song, before you arrive at what will be the final version that you then present to the world. There are always many layers and versions that only you, as the creator, will ever hear. After I had finished writing and producing my latest album ‘The Great Wide Open’, the songs stayed with me even though the record was released, and I kept hearing the potential of doing completely different arrangements for them. In the following months, I began stripping them down to the bare bones to see If I could re-build them in a new and exciting way. A piece of music can be so many things, and in this re-imagining process I felt very inspired, as if the songs were asking to be looked at in a different light as well. Needless to say, it was fun to create these songs anew, and I’ve therefore decided to call this collection ”The Great Wide Open – Reimagined.” I chose to deconstruct six songs from my most recent full-length album and then focused in on the essence of each song. These are not simply re-mixed; they are brand new recordings. The original recording of ‘Wolves’ is very high energy featuring lots of electric guitars, bass and drums. The new ‘Wolves – Reimagined’ ‘arrangement is almost entirely orchestral and acoustic which has a completely different emotional feel from the original version. ‘Separated Hearts – Reimagined’ is a beautiful ambient piece of music that ebbs-and-flows, going in reverse. ‘A Speck Of Light’ was another big song that I re-recorded with a very intimate piano, a solo-cello and a whole bunch of synthesizers creating ‘A Speck Of Light – Reimagined,” says Christoffer Franzen.

The Great Wide Open (Reimagined) was produced, recorded and mixed by Christoffer Franzen, and released on Deep Elm Records.