Irene Michaels & D BEAT Reunite on a Driving House Rework—“Feeling Free” Drops via Trax
- Amy Posts
- Jun 30
- 2 min read
From the label that once hard-wired Chicago’s pulse into clubland’s bloodstream, Feeling Free feels less like a history lesson than a reminder that Trax Records still knows how to hit the sweet spot between functionality and feeling. Irene Michaels, whose 2023 Josie-winning single “I Like Rain” cast her as a Pop-House romantic with a storyteller’s touch, steps onto a leaner, late-night stage here. The Italian pairing of D BEAT & TWOEF don’t so much remix her song as rebuild it, exchanging its gauzy earnestness for a taut chassis of rolling percussion and fluorescent bass drive.
The Radio Edit wastes no time: a clipped four-bar intro of crisply gated hats snaps open into Michaels’ vocal, framed by a synth figure that glints like city lights through rain-streaked glass. Her lines hang in the mix with admirable poise while the duo’s Italo-leaning low-end nudges the track forward. A mid-section briefly strips things back to little more than kick drum, setting up a final refrain that lands with the palpable lift suggested by the title.
For DJs, the Extended Mix is the real draw. Stretched past the seven-minute mark, it indulges the duo’s taste for negative space: the bassline pushes the track along, and a neatly engineered breakdown drops the temperature just enough to make the subsequent return feel cathartic rather than predictable. Michaels’ vocal is used more sparingly here. Yet the idea survives the drop.
Neither version tries to reinvent the modern Trax wheel, but they don’t need to. Instead, Feeling Free sharpens Michaels’ melodic instincts into a tool built for modern floors while giving D BEAT & TWOEF a canvas wide enough to flaunt their kinetic brand of music. It’s a smart, unfussy summer release, one that slips neatly into a peak-time set or a sweat-fogged 3 AM slot and, in either case, does exactly what a good remix should.
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