the good, the bad, and the remixed: fever ray's "seven"

so i'm writing for the woove, and here's my first review.

hooray.

Karin Dreijer Andersson has provided the music world with an otherworldly eerie sound, one that has surprisingly gone without imitation for almost a year. But since no one dares to recreate her icy-psychotic melodies, Fever Ray’s self-titled album has been the subject of several remixes, with “Seven” as the most recent single to be transformed from a delicately blended swarm of tribal-synth goodness into shreds of beat-infused filth.

Fever Ray’s double-disk rerelease (available October 5) may sound exciting, but the anticipation quickly died when I found out that most of the hype is going to the series of remixed singles and not to the “Been Here Before” or “Stranger Than Kindness” covers. I usually don’t have a major problem with remixes/mash-ups/etc., and I have found myself listening to a great deal of them in the past few weeks. However, these hashed-up, versions of the original tracks usually come off as superficial, which is unfortunately the case with the “Seven” remixes. So far only the Crookers and Martyn mixes have been released online, and as of now I would discourage looking into future tracks. But if you simply must fulfill your need to download a ripped apart version of this originally genius track, go for the Martyn one.

Why am I bashing the Crookers mix? The Italian DJ duo infused a ringing telephone into the beat. And it’s not just a one-time ring—it rings again and again and again. This first released remix is not ring-a-ling fun. It’s just stupid. It’s cheesy and overworked. And I absolutely cannot stand it when artists concentrate the entire song on a single line. In this case, Crookers decided to focus on the line “talk on that phone,” hence the annoying ring. If you really want to deconstruct something that is already good, you need to do it with finesse and taste, not butchery.

Martyn’s mix, on the other hand, reflects more of the original track’s brilliance. The lilting tropical beat is somewhat preserved, but the dubstep background beat seems a bit muddy and thick. The two overlapping melodies do not agree with each other, especially with the introduction of a high-pitched third beat about a minute into the mix. Instead of resulting in a fuller song, the Martyn remix strips the original’s ethereality and replaces it with empty rhythm. The addition of a bajillion other sounds does absolutely nothing for the song. Like I mentioned before, if you have something good, let it be.

So whether you like electronically beefed-up tunes or not, steer clear of the “Seven” remixes. Not good. Not good at all. If you thought it was impossible for Fever Ray to sound awful, you now have proof that all things are indeed possible.