A real Detroit connection here as Dames Brown & Amp Fiddler’s ‘Take Me As I Am’ gets a quality remix from fellow Detroit native Moodymann.
Few cities shape music quite like Detroit. From Motown through to techno, house and soul, there is a certain emotional weight that runs through the city’s sound, and Take Me As I Am captures that spirit perfectly.
Originally appearing on Dames Brown and Amp Fiddler’s album of the same name, the track already carried deep significance. Recorded at Amp Fiddler’s home studio before his passing in 2023, the project became both a celebration of Detroit’s musical identity and a tribute to one of its most beloved creative figures. Now, with Moodymann stepping in on remix duties, the record takes on another dimension entirely.
Dames Brown have steadily become one of Detroit’s strongest vocal collectives over the past decade, bringing together house, funk, gospel and soul influences with a rawness that feels increasingly rare. Across the original album, Athena Johnson, Teresa Marbury and LaRae Starr channel the city’s rich lineage whilst still sounding completely contemporary.
Moodymann’s remix of Take Me As I Am feels like a natural extension of that world. Kenny Dixon Jr. has always approached house music differently, less interested in polished functionality and more focused on mood, looseness and human feeling. Here, he strips the track into a hazy late-night groove built around swung drums, delicate piano lines and warped vocal fragments drifting underneath the trio’s harmonies.
The result sits somewhere between house, jazz, R&B and soul without fully settling into any one category. The groove is deep but never rigid. The drums shuffle rather than drive. Synth textures drift in and out of focus whilst the vocals remain front and centre, carrying the emotional core of the track throughout.
What makes the remix work so well is that Moodymann understands restraint. He never overwhelms the original song or tries to transform it into something bigger or more dramatic. Instead, he leans further into its warmth and vulnerability, allowing the emotion already present in the record to breathe naturally.
There is also something fitting about Moodymann handling this remix. Much like Amp Fiddler, he has spent decades representing a side of Detroit music rooted in soul, honesty and individuality rather than trend cycles. Both artists understood groove as something emotional rather than mechanical.
A beautifully understated remix that feels deeply connected to Detroit’s musical lineage whilst remaining timeless in its execution. Out May 15th on Defected Records. Pre order here.
