Review
Genre and Mood
Wamdue Project and Jonathan Mendelsohn’s Forgiveness - Extended Original is a house record in its long form, the version made for DJs rather than for radio. Discogs files its releases under house and progressive house. It is groovy, because it was made for the dance floor, and soulful, sung by a singer who names Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and George Michael as the models for his voice.
Song Summary
Forgiveness is a record by Chris Brann, the Atlanta producer who works as Wamdue Project, sung by Jonathan Mendelsohn. Wikipedia dates the single to 2006. Fierce Angel, the British house label the DJ Mark Doyle founded that year, issued it on a CD single in 2009, and the yearbook’s copy comes from Forgiveness, Vol. 1, which the label released digitally on 15 April 2013. That release holds six versions: an Eric Kupper edit, his Love U mix and his dub, a Bassmonkeys mix, a Rasmus Faber mix and this Extended Original, at 8:19 the full length of Brann’s own mix.
Musical Breakdown
Main Section
No review we could find walks through Forgiveness part by part, so this page describes less than usual. The sources give the frame: Mendelsohn’s lead vocal, Brann’s production, and a length of more than eight minutes, which leaves room for the long instrumental stretches that DJs use to mix one record into the next. Listen for how much of that time passes without the voice.
Concepts in Focus
An extended mix is the long version of a track, with extra intro, outro or instrumental passages. Here the name is literal: the Extended Original is the original mix at full length. On the 2009 CD single the original ran at 8:21 as the Original Wamdue Mix, next to radio edits of a little over three minutes.
The rest of the 2013 release is made of remix versions, each one another producer’s idea of the song. Eric Kupper, Bassmonkeys and Rasmus Faber each rebuilt it. Hear the original, then one remix, and you hear what the remixers kept.
Mendelsohn is the <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist, credited after Wamdue Project. Brann has long worked this way, a producer who brings in a singer for each record, as Gaelle Adisson sang his Wamdue Project, Roy Malone – King Of My Castle - Roy Malone’s King Mix.
Artistic Context
Chris Brann was born in Atlanta in 1972 and records as Wamdue Project, Ananda Project and P’Taah; Wikipedia lists Forgiveness among the Wamdue Project singles between Home Planet in 2004 and Washes Over You in 2007. Mendelsohn, born in Brooklyn in 1980, won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in 2002. Wikipedia names Forgiveness as one of his first releases: it drew the attention of Sony executives and he signed with Sony BMG, though new leadership there let him go before his debut came out.
Impact and Reception
Mendelsohn went on to sing for trance and big-room DJs, on Brennan Heart’s Imaginary, Hardwell’s Echo and We Are Legends with Hardwell and Kaaze. Forgiveness is where that voice first met a dance floor, and Fierce Angel kept it in circulation for years with new remixes. Give it the full eight minutes.
