Dark & Long (Drift 2 Dark Train) Free download!

22 Oct 21

Released in the summer of 1994, one could argue that Dark Train was Underworld’s first proper anthem. Where previous singles Mmm… Skyscraper I Love You, Rez and Cowgirl had provided the soundtrack to countless nights in dank basements and underground clubs, Dark Train drove a hole directly through the walls and parked itself on the main dance floor. It quickly crossed from techno world and into the super clubs – those buttoned up, shiny new sonic meccas that sprang up all over the UK in the mid ’90s. Once there, it began to shape the sounds around it, an irrepressible, irresistible virus in the mainstream. Often imitated over the years, Dark Train was never equalled.

Ostensibly a remix of Dark & Long, in reality this was always very much its own thing. Completely reimagined from the original, it was an irrepressible groove, a signal to move and an instruction to ride the train with zero regard for the destination. Eighteen months after release and club ubiquity, the track gained a post-club afterlife in Danny Boyle’s 1996 film Trainspotting. There, it formed part of an unforgettable juxtaposition in the film’s cold turkey scene – the claustrophobic, bedroom bound visuals offset by the relentless elation of the music.

This new mix of Dark Train builds on Underworld’s recent live performances of the track. For this exclusive release, Underworld have reimagined the original mix in the Pigshed as if it were being played out, and we were stood together in field or concert hall, riding that train together.