- The long crescent summers always usher in new energy (and debauched parties), and latest release on Crosstown Rebels arrives just in time for the season with ‘Far Away’ from Mademoiselle Caro & Franck Garcia chugging away for your attention with a certain rock and roll nostalgia.
Caro & Garcia’s offering starts all stripped back, rolling pads and crushing vocals joined by crisp hi-hats that capture atmosphere and tension. The vocals hinge on sadness and beauty – the refrain ‘love is far away’ sung over oh so simple keys. I’d be tempted to keep this in my bag as a serious contender for a closing track maybe at DC-10 or Stink (if it was still running). The producers really show their influences – Depeche Mode, Joy Division and Siouxie and The Banshees – and the simple production and songwriting really make this stand out.
Jennifer Cardini and Shonky’s remix treatment endeavours to take the tune dark and trippy, perhaps for afterhours at the Rex in Paris. They don’t change the structure much, merely highlighting subtle details. The sharp chord stabs add muscle and girth, elsewhere there's poignant bleeps and swirls, the vocals snipped and dragged along at the track’s end.
Finally Mr. Wagon Repair Mathew Jonson arrives with the stash. Quick, lock the doors, this might just get messy. Jonson’s take is a real statement of a track and DJs love to make statements. It doesn’t wait to rush in with twisted keys and effects driving a signal that will fill floors and nod heads, the vocals arriving tight and quick, a smart move – here the vocals are great and really now-sounding. Then the Jonson magic is cast with a ghostly melody that deconstructs the air. This one is definitely going to be big – one for Konrad Black to Ivan Smagghe.
Overall a strong 12” from Damian and his crew. The original strikes an emotional chord and the Mathew Jonson remix shines in corners dark and dingy, a cinematic backdrop for a sad French love story to be continued…