Enlisting Australia’s award-snaffling, über-popular producer to remix one of the most popular indie singles from one of the more critically acclaimed albums of 2013 would result in a banging no-brainer match-up, right?
Not quite. Flume has re-worked Arcade Fire’s ‘Afterlife’, and while the 22-year-old Harley Streten has plenty of experience re-tooling blockbuster names to intriguing effect (see: Lorde) his 10-minute rework of the Canadian arena band is a bit of a blotch on his track record.
Taking the Reflektor original’s vocal refrains, along with Win Butler’s “work it out/scream and shout” lines and keys, Flume’s remix spends around a third of its 10-minute running time swimming in dreamy circles before adding an uninventive house backbeat and lite-trap flourishes.
It seems to consciously avoid Flume’s own hallmarks – there’s no build and release or drops, which is not a problem in and of itself except that it also neuters the original of its infectious Haiti-inspired shuffling rhythms and disco undertones. It’s not quite deep house enough to hypnotise and not energetic enough to be a dance monster, in either case it doesn’t seem enough to justify it’s indulgent length. In short, not Flume’s best work.
See if you disagree by scoping the new tune (and its shiny Anubis artwork) below:
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