Let’s be honest: it’s hard to get very excited about a remix album. They’re traditionally for completists and fanatics, a quick fix of the band in the between-albums wait. My pavlovian response on seeing ‘(remix)’ tacked onto the end of a song title on an mp3 player is to hit skip whilst yawning. Perhaps this compelling collection from lo-fi lovelies Au Revoir Simone will have me changing my ways.
With a mixed bag of trendy indie names handling the remixing, the interpretations – of all of the tracks from 2009’s stellar Still Night, Still Light – are varied and ambitious. Au Revoir Simone’s minimalist production, it seems , is an inviting blank canvas to the creative remixer.
Jensen Sportag’s take on ‘All or nothing’ gives it a retro big band feel, think Mark Ronson with a little more restraint on the horns. Opener ‘Another likely story’ is beautifully reimagined as a brooding 80s electro number by Neon Indian (see the equally competent Aeroplane remix on the bonus track for a more upbeat direction). No consecutive tracks sound alike, with dub, ambient and dance remixes completing an eclectic line-up.
Consider this a worthwhile companion piece to Still Night.
