Josh Gabriel has had immense success in the trance world with his duo project, Gabriel & Dresden. These two have toured substantially around the world and their productions have been hailed by artists such as Armin van Buuren, Markus Schultz & Pete Tong. In 2008, the two decided to split for several years in order to work on their own individual projects.
Enter Winter Kills. Winter Kills is another moniker from Gabriel with the miraculous American vocalist, Meredith. Influenced by unique artists such as M83 and Depeche Mode, they created an album in 2011 which was described as “A treasury of down- and up-tempo jewels, crossing borders of deep progressive, imaginative pop, retro groove and all else needed to create magic”. With this exciting new collaboration project, they released Forward Facing, which originally was supposed to be an ‘epic’ acoustic mix focusing on the stunning vocals of Meredith. 
Winter Kills then decided to launch a remix contest and to have the top two winners be featured in the release along with the Original Mix. And while the Irish team, Walsh & McAuley technically ‘won’ the contest, many people are agreeing that Netherlands native Otto Coster stole the show. Relatively unknown to many fans, Otto Coster has completely revamped the entire tune into a beautiful true Progressive masterpiece that is fantastic listening for anyone (or dancing!).
http://youtu.be/25x5uNTM5sU
The piece begins with a sudden drive of saw bass and forceful beats with filtered vocals as it slowly builds into progressive synths and melodic strings that will have you moving your feet. It drops into an absolutely beautiful free flow section with a gorgeous progressive line that gives proper space for the vocals to shine through. Building and building, it drops into a progressive beat that speaks serenely and directly to your heart, forcing an uncontrollable grin from the listener.
Otto Coster‘s lovely Rerub actually brings out the clarity and beauty of Meredith‘s voice even more than the Acoustic version. It gives it the perfect atmosphere in order for the music and the vocals to have an intimate relationship with one another and it gives the entire piece a newer special meaning behind it. Too often, we find vocals slapped on a track that could be placed on numerous other tracks, but it almost seems like as though the vocals and Otto Coster‘s remix were meant for each other exclusively (which is a good thing).
Supported by artists such as Gareth Emery and Blake Jarrell, it is a fantastic new addition to anyone’s musical library and an essential must have for any Progressive fans out there. It’s already out on Beatport on Different Pieces Records, so go and grab this wonderful tune today.
Also, make sure to check out the Original Acoustic Mix and Walsh & McAuley Remix!
Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/release/forward-facing/997129
Sources
https://www.facebook.com/JoshGabrielMusic/info
https://www.facebook.com/winterkills/info
http://www.armadamusic.com/news/2011/06/josh-gabriel-presents-winter-kills-album/
http://www.1001tracklists.com/track/105028_winter-kills-forward-facing-otto-coster-remix/index.html
Great write-up! Amazing song!