1. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (radio edit) 3.20
2. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (Tiga mix) 6.53
3. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (Henrik Schwarz edit) 4.55
4. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (Tom Belton remix) 3.52
5. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (Timo Garcia & The Cheshire Catz remix) 8.07
6. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (album version) 5.08

Coldcut’s recent high-profile comeback with the release of their highly-anticipated ‘Sound Mirrors’ also marked a pronounced stylistic shift for the duo away from the samplemashing and turntablism they’d previously built their reputation on, towards a more streamlined, pop-based approach that showed them working with an extremely diverse range of vocal and lyrical collaborators. In many senses, this fourth single to be lifted from ‘Sound Mirrors’ is perhaps one of the moments from the album most emblematic of that transition – indeed it’s fair to say that deep vocal soul-house singles with accompanying electro and progressive remixes aren’t something that you’d normally associate with the Ninja Tune label.

In this case, the stylistic transition certainly hasn’t been accompanied by a corresponding drop in the duo’s established high quality control; in its original album form ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes’ easily represents one of ‘Sound Mirrors’ most evocative vocal centrepiece moments as well as one poised perfectly for radio airplay, with veteran Chicago house legend Robert Owens taking the Joe South seventies track into shimmering, cinematic soul territory, dubbed-out vocal echoes and atmospheric synth bleeps gliding beneath his honey-smooth vocals as vast emotive orchestration reminiscent of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’s epic sweep underpins the social commentary embedded in the lyrical content – thematic material that remains present throughout ‘Sound Mirrors’ from start to end. Current remix ‘It boy’ Tiga opts for a dark, paranoid electro-house trajectory on his reworking, with a growling synthetic bassline powering its way beneath crisp, punching tech-house rhythms that sit somewhere between Tiefschwarz and Black Strobe, the tense, nervous atmospheres transposing Owens’ original vocals to a considerably more desperate-sounding place as icy synth arpeggios rise up in the mix, while Sonar Kollektiv’s Henrik Schwarz takes things into poignant, downbeat jazz atmospheres with his lush and laidback remix, placing delicate acoustic guitars, bell percussion and distant horns beneath Owen’s rich vocal soul before the soaring strings enter and crisp electro-house rhythms rouse the track out of its deep reverie – indeed, I personally found it to be one of the absolute highlights here.

Tom Belton’s SSL edit unfortunately fares less well and represents the one slightly sub-par and generic reworking on offer here, taking things into the sort of fairly disposable disco-house you’re more likely to associate with the likes of Hed Kandi; while Timo Garcia manages to pull a deft save right at the end with his expansive eight-minute tech-house reworking, which builds dark rolling percussive atmosphere, scattering dubbed-out fragments of Owens’ vocals over a streamlined backdrop of hard, punching house kicks and shimmering proggy synth washes; while it’s not something you’re immediately going to associate with the Ninjas, in this case Garcia pulls things off with considerable aplomb, resulting in another of the more interesting reworkings on offer here. Another strong package that continues the brace of impressive singles to be lifted from ‘Sound Mirrors’ – it’ll be interesting to see how Coldcut pull it all off live at the upcoming festival appearances around Australia.

Check out www.coldcut.tv and www.ninjatune.net