Pepe Deluxé – Before You Leave 25 (Remixes)
£2.00 – £2.50
PEPE DELUXÉ – Before You Leave…Again!
Just days before the release of Super Sound 25, Pepe Deluxé return with the song that made them international — the UK Top 20–hitting, still-impossible-to-categorise slice of sonic mischief: Before You Leave.
Originally created for Levi’s Twisted Jeans campaign, the track began as Woman in Blue, a sample-packed explosion so dense that Sony and EMI valued its clearance at half a million pounds — over a million dollars today. Rather than pay, Pepe rewrote it completely — a creative heist that changed everything for the band.
The reimagined Before You Leave went on to become Pepe’s most-played song ever, earning a Cannes Gold Lion, soundtracking global TV ads and shows, and even the French presidential debates. Now, more than two decades later, it returns with two new 2025 remixes and a freshly remastered original — bringing its wild journey full circle.
The 2025 Remixes
- DJ Slow 2025 Remix — The original Pepe turntablist, DJ Slow, returns after over two decades with a ‘90s-nostalgic yet super-muscular reboot. Built from the original session and a vintage TV performance recording, with James Spectrum’s added production and mixing — it’s pure 1999 spirit running on 2025 horsepower.
- Pepe Deluxé’s End in Tears Remix — Paul Malmström’s orchestral tour-de-force streamlined by Spectrum: a lush, cinematic reinvention that transforms the track into something entirely new yet unmistakably Pepe 2025.
- Plus, a remastered re-release of the original Before You Leave, cut directly from vinyl for that warm, unmistakable groove.
Another Lost Pepe Video Reborn
The original Before You Leave music video is the black sheep among Pepe’s visual adventures, where “OH! My Eyes!” tends to be the norm. Director Miikka Lommi proposed plenty of wild ideas, but Sony — who financed the shoot — insisted it remain “classy and conservative.”
The result? Imagine a high-gloss gallery party where everyone looks fabulous, slightly lost, and politely bored — led by “Woman in Blue” herself, Finnish model and TV personality Saimi Hoyer.
The video’s master tapes vanished years ago, but Pepe recently unearthed Lommi’s personal VHS viewing copy. After a unique process dubbed “ZX Spectrumizing” — a hybrid of analog and digital treatments that even ran the sound through a C-cassette — the band restored what they call “the best colour-bleeding version ever.”
Visually, it’s not lo-fi. It’s burned-fi. And while it remains Pepe’s only “conservative” (read: “boring”) video, it offers a rare glimpse into the earnest, slightly naïve aesthetics of the turn of the millennium.
Legacy, Reloaded
For Pepe Deluxé, nostalgia isn’t about looking back — it’s about seeing what happens when yesterday’s class meets tomorrow’s technology (and ideas from out there). Before You Leave (2025 Remixes) bridges that gap beautifully — a reminder of how one madly ambitious track turned three Finnish misfits into global sonic alchemists.
Catch the full story when Super Sound 25 lands 28 November 2025 on Catskills Records.
Pepe Deluxé 2025
Led by James Spectrum (Helsinki) and Paul Malmström (Brooklyn), Pepe Deluxé remain pop’s most inventive outsiders — proving that the future of retro never really left.
