With Shara Worden’s band, it’s all about the sense of unreality and wonder they create, and mercifully the collaborators have sense enough to mine this rich seam
With Shara Worden’s band, it’s all about the sense of unreality and wonder they create, and mercifully the collaborators have sense enough to mine this rich seam
My Brightest Diamond – Tear it Down
http://www.asthmatickitty.com/ http://www.konkurrent.nl/
Reviewing an LP of remixes is always a hit and miss affair, even if the remixes are taken from the acclaimed LP such as My Brightest Diamond’s Bring Me the Workhorse. Luckily this LP is more hit than miss, the re-mixers having the sense to concentrate on the finer points of the music that are rather than trying to create something different and "challenging".
With Shara Worden’s band, it’s all about the sense of unreality and wonder they create, and mercifully the collaborators have sense enough to mine this rich seam. Alias’s mix of Golden Star is a case in point; due to the sense of space created, Worden’s voice is able to float away from the muscular rhythms in a very convincing manner indeed. Lusine’s mix of Workhorse follows suit, creating a very powerful piece. MBD’s music doesn’t half suit moody MoWax-style work –outs. Particularly good is the way Worden’s voice suddenly "appears" very high in the mix bringing a palpable sense of tension.
It’s not all sensitive stuff. The two mixes of Freak Out (by Gold Chains Panique and is Kenny Mitchell respectively) are tremendous dance tracks, albeit very different. One is robotic and metronomic in the extreme, another takes the track on a ridiculously overblown drum’n’bass work out. Both are great, though. The LP quietens down after this attack; David Michael Stith’s take on Gone Away being a case in point, whereas Haruki’s Sparkling is almost a whisper. This quiet weirdness is best exemplified in the final track; Disappear (Wheat to Whiskey mix by Cedar Ave) where a nursery rhyme feel is suddenly overpowered by some breathtaking symphonic keyboard effects; seemingly Shara takes off, Dorothy-style to another planet… then things get cut up before getting slightly dancey again. Bonkers, but pleasantly so.
Good stuff all round!
Words: Richard Foster.