Luna Rosa - 'The Remixes' EP Review

 

Upon the cover art: "Aiden found a vintage photo store in Canada, and they just had all these amazing polaroids from around the world. We just really loved this one and felt it fit with the songs. The photo tells a joyous story, just a guy dancing alone in his living room drinking a beer, what more can you want!" 

Guitar music has strangely enough always fitted perfectly alongside the underground rawness of electronica. Both have the capacity to achieve astounding levels of heaviness and euphoria, and the consolidation of the two through genre fusion and remix go hand in hand. Typically alternative guitar acts like Foals and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds are consistent in their inclusion of remixes of original songs and projects, with more recent acts like Fontaines D.C and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard following suit. Luna Rosa are a band constantly chasing new sonics, so their latest effort ‘The Remixes E.P’, which follows this same format, comes as no surprise. Taken from last year’s ‘Brutal Nature’ EP, ‘The Remixes’ is made up of six beautifully contorted, chopped and distorted reprises of their originals by innovative DJs Vestian, Off Peek, O.P.1, Pasque, Rise Bailey and Joshua Guy. “We’ve always loved sort of underground or leftfield electronica-slash-dance music as well as the massive classics. We’ve been known to talc a few floors and spring a few moves” tells vocalist Rory McDade. “There’s a time and a place for dance music. I wouldn’t say we go around smashing it every minute of the day, although we do have four CD Ibiza anthems collections in the band van that gets us pinging before a gig. And also Aiden’s famous ‘the Definitive Danny Dyer Megamix’ playlist on Spotify for anyone that wants to check it out”. When asked which dance acts the band gravitate toward to the most, McDade responded “I’d have to say Massive Attack, Faithless, the Chemical Brothers, Portishead, Justice, Bonobo. Just anything that is interesting musically, but also gets you moving”.

Vestian’s mix of Brutal Nature opens the EP, a track that does not vary from the original a great deal in terms of structure. Instead, Vestian pulls the distortion and depth of the original track to the forefront so that the song’s gritty, hearty quality sits right upon the surface. The drawn out initial chord welcomes the track’s repetitively hypnotic drums, which pairs with McDade’s slowed and seething vocals excellently. In essence, Vestian’s mix captures the soul of Luna Rosa best of all the EP’s mixes, allowing the listener to pick apart their trippy instrumentation and detailed lyrical poeticism while exposing their dark and gloomy traits also.

 If Andrew Weatherall were to mix Luna Rosa in the modern day, it would sound something like Off Peek’s remix of I In The Centre Of Pride. Rich with swirling, psychedelic guitars and a baggy, nineties style drum loop, track two is one for the acid-house heads. The song’s original bassline guides the track, gifting this mix it’s groovy, funk-flavoured pace and style, which rings bells of the likes of Screamadelica-era Primal Scream and Charlatans. An undeniable dance track, following mix Empty by O.P.1 can equally be credited as the comedown song for I In The Centre. As with Vestian’s opening mix, Empty does not differ from the original all that much, the acoustic guitar intro laying the foundations for a Portishead-esque, trip-hoppy drum loop matched with delay-drenched vocals and guitar takes, scattered with a few record scratches for good measure.

Pasque’s Corrugated Steel picks the vibe up once again, scatty percussion taking up the introduction while McDade’s angsty lyrics satisfyingly juxtapose the song’s upbeat nature. Pasque’s Corrugated Steel makes for a fitting summertime tune, almost anthemic in its presence, a contemporary house remix that flirts between rudimental snares and breakbeat-interludes.

The EP’s climactic peak comes in at track number five, Rise Bailey’s MK Ultra mix, which strays from the overtly weighty, rough nature of the original. Distorted electric guitar is swapped out for sky-soaring orchestral shrills and arpeggiated keys, which adjoins with a progressive beat reminiscent of Moby. Rise Bailey’s use of echo and unidentifiably warped sounds creates a kind of otherworldly soundscape, building up tension that is finally released in the track’s crescendo, a concoction of resounding drums and permeating bass. Rise’s early-nineties techno and dub-house influence is certainly of prominence within the latter half of this tune, the likes of Leftfield and Underworld coming to mind.

It is only fitting that the delicate Drown In Your Love, mixed by Joshua Guy, precedes the dizzying heights of Rise’s MK Ultra. Somewhere between the Primal’s Shine Like Stars on speed and Interplanetary Criminal’s B.O.T.A on Valium, Guy maintains the dancey pace of the EP while gently winding things down to a close; the last track before the lights come on.

‘The Remixes’ flows with the energy and maelstrom of a bender, allowing for spots of much needed serenity in between the raucous. The diversity heard within these six tracks does not just demonstrate each producer’s ability to meld each into its own psychedelic up-tempo alter-ego, but is a testament to Luna Rosa’s songwriting; each track allows us to hear something that we did not possibly hear within the originals, whether that be a backing vocal buried within the mix, a dampened tambourine take, or an overall feeling that is somehow perceived differently on the original. This body of work offers an insight into the vast capabilities that emerge from mashing up guitar music and electronica, and the likely qualities that both share.

 

Check out Luna Rosa’s ‘The Remixes’ on Bandcamp now.