On St. Vincent’s latest impressive album, MASSEDUCTION, and really across her catalog, there are songs of gut-wrenching heartbreak and longing that can often be masked or softened by the artist’s own theatrical presentation. The desperation that strikes at the chorus of her single “Los Ageless,” which is currently getting its fair share of support at rock radio, is certainly felt, but the grandeur of the song makes her words sting a little less.
It’s the remix from LA-based electronic duo DJDS that helps expose a layer of vulnerability that the original recording suggests. Known as much for their own exhilarating dance-floor ready compositions as they are for their work on Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo, the pair strip down the original track, coming close to a barebones reinterpretation of the song that underscores its emotional heart.
And that’s what the best remixes do, unveil a piece of the song that was always apparent but might not have been the center of the original presentation. After the second chorus, the music drops mostly away to leave Annie Clark asking, “How can anybody have you and lose you and not lose your mind, too?” Her voice sounds gruff and exhausted, as if she’d poured everything she had into the previous couple minutes of singing. And, for a moment, the song becomes something totally new.
Check out St. Vincent’s “Los Ageless” as remixed by DJDS above.
