Rhian Sheehan & Arli Liberman present a new imagining of their track ‘Specular’, reworked by producer and synth architect Zuke. For this remix, Zuke reshapes the track into something deeper, heavier, and rhythmically charged.
Originally appearing on the collaborative album Traces - an instrumental journey blending electronic, ambient and post-rock textures, ‘Specular’ was the most overtly-electronic piece on the album. For the remix, Zuke has reshaped the track into something deeper, heavier, and rhythmically charged.
From the outset, a rich low-end establishes a brooding mood before the drums enter with a subtle dub-steppa pulse - not quite dub, but carrying the same deep-system energy. Where the original version of ‘Specular’ floated weightlessly through shimmering atmospheres, Zuke’s remix grounds the track with a deeper physical presence. Rolling breakbeats emerge throughout, drawing on jungle-inspired rhythms while maintaining the ambient depth of the original.
Producer Zuke brought his signature moog synth to the original album version of ‘Specular’, and performed as part of the band that brought the album to life live in 2025. As his version unfolds, Zuke gradually transforms the sonic landscape. The result is a striking fusion - cinematic ambient meets 140-tempo bass music, equally suited to deep listening or massive festival sound systems.
Zuke is the electronic project of Ed Zuccollo, a producer known for his exploratory approach to deep bass and immersive sound design. Described as “an exploratory journey into the physicality of deep bass, with a taste for the cinematic,” Zuke’s genre-fluid instrumental productions have been tested across festival stages throughout Aotearoa, shaping a sound that bridges atmospheric composition and system-driven intensity.