If you’re one of the seven people who used to really love Esthero back in the day, then this is for you. Her debut album, Breath From Another, got its fair share of hype in 1997 as a somewhat offbeat (and fairly upbeat) trip hop album, with Esthero’s unique vocal style garnering her comparisons to Bjork thanks to the first single, “Heaven Sent.” Everything about the album seemed to scream summer in Toronto, from the cocktail hour lounge-hop of “Anywayz” to the low-key downtempo of “Superheroes.” But the best track from the era was one that didn’t make it to the album itself.

The title track from the album is a flamenco-tinged bit of drum’n'bass-influenced hip-hop, and stands well enough on its own. But almost from the time I bought the album, I’ve heard far better versions than the album rendition. Back when review websites were still excited about posting low-quality audio clips, the Sun Media website Jam! had a review of an Esthero live show that was accompanied by a fifteen-second clip of Esthero performing “Breath From Another” live. For about a year I tried desperately to find a full version, I liked it so much. Her live performance was, to me, the very sound of the nightlife I was missing out on as a high school student—fresh, exciting, and apparently powered by a funkified bass guitar and a live breakbeat drummer.

I never did find a recording of any of her live shows, but that’s fine—it turned out an even better version came out before Esthero hit the live circuit. Charlie Clouser is best known as one of the people who helped Nine Inch Nails achieve its signature sound in the early and mid-90s, but lately he’s been putting his skills as a composer to work in the film industry, scoring movies like Saw 2 and television shows like Las Vegas. That sort of work calls for a lot of versatility—there’s no way you can get away with making a show set in a casino sound like the inside of a slaughterhouse—and so it’s no surprise that, given his success in this most recent phase of his music career, he was able to give “Breath From Another” a highly polished sheen. His Orpheus Floating Mix improves on the original in almost every way, a fine late 90s example of what a remix should sound like (because, remember, this was the age of Electronica, when people listening to the radio were still getting used to the idea of rock songs being remixed). How Esthero managed to attract the likes of Charlie Clouser to play with her material is beyond me, but it was a great move; unfortunately this mix got buried as a b-side on the single to “Heaven Sent,” meaning practically no one has ever heard it.