Photo by Nedda Afsari
The interpretive nature of a remix is like attempting to decipher weathered hieroglyphics without the aid of a Rosetta Stone. Sounds and feelings exposed to the elements, gathered up in a box and shuffled around before spilling onto the floor to be re-assembled in a manner that makes the most sense to the interpreter. The elements of the original message are all there, but the syllables and syntax have been placed in a new structure that can carry a wildly different meaning. “I Never Knew,” the lead track off Collapsing Scenery’s 2019 album Stress Positons receives a pair of remix treatments from renowned genre-breaker Miho Haroti and the formidable combined talents of Tim Kinsella and Jenny Pulse, each a refreshingly distinct take on the original.
Collapsing Scenery’s original composition is hugely cinematic, like art house science fiction. The interstellar journey of an astronaut drifting alone and untethered though the black before plunging headlong into a wondrous and terrifying new reality surrounded by billowing nebulas that fill the void with explosions of color and heat. As the track builds so does the distortion, soon becoming overwhelming and providing the briefest glimpse of beautiful melody before abruptly collapsing into chaotic digital dissonance as the astronaut passes into the crushing weight of an emotional singularity, never to return.
Remix number one comes from Miho Hatori, one half of 90s trip-hop powerhouse Cibo Matto and frequent collaborator with a wide array of artists including Dan The Automator (Gorillaz, Handsome Boy Modeling Shcool) and Beastie Boys. Hatori’s remix all but shuns the slick energy of her typical output in favor of a rolling, percolating beat and dense production that creates a sensation of floating not in a cold and empty void like the original track but within a warm and safe sonic miasma comprised of ever shifting pastel colors. The general sensation of solitude carries over into this remix but here it is comfortably secure, like being wrapped in a knit blanket gazing out on late afternoon sunlight streaming through cotton candy clouds.
The second remix heads straight for the dancefloor with a massively thick beat and spiked with poppy vocals echoing “I never knew” in contrast with the melancholy delivery of the line lifted from the original version. Multidisciplinary Renaissance man Tim Kinsella and innovative singer-producer Jenny Pulse combine forces to remix the track under their collaborative identity Good Fuck, shifting the setting to a hypermodern nightclub packed to the bursting with a sense of communal euphoria that definitely makes this the most energetic of the versions. The nebulous haze that defined Collapsing Scenery’s original and Hatori’s remix has been elevated like a layer of fog-machine frosting punctuated with green and blue lasers above a sea of undulated arms and splayed hands stretching for the hypnotizing light show that’s just out of reach.
Both versions of “I Never Knew” are streaming now on Spotify. Follow Collapsing Scenery, Miho Hatori, and Good Fuck on Instagram.
