- Wild Beast's Smother was striking partly for its dancier new direction; these were sensuous disco grooves for sexually deviant adults. And judging by the propulsive, synth-heavy lead single "Wanderlust," its follow-up Present Tense will continue in that vein. You might think, then, that only minor tampering would be required to make the track work on a dance floor. But this pair of remixers think differently, taking a heavily deconstructive approach rather than have their will bent to the singular and pungent vocal of Hayden Thorpe. The result is a remix package in which comfort zones remain firmly inhabited.
The Field zeroes in on the glossy uplift of the song's latter half, fracturing it into pretty new shapes and sticking a patient techno pulse underneath. The result exudes the panoramic euphoria of much of his work, though it seems to tread water in the latter half, and its slow tempo gives it a slight feeling of inevitability. Factory Floor go one step further, shedding even the original's hi-def sheen in pursuit of their own spartan vision. Awkward snippets of vocal are the only discernible hint of the original (save for the synth-choral passage dumped unceremoniously over the intro). Instead we get a taut, faintly Drexciyan techno workout, its angsty shivers of percussion slowly building in intensity. It's stark and effective, even if it sounds like it was 90% finished before the remix commission came in.
Tracklist01. Wanderlust
02. Byzantine
03. Wanderlust (The Field Remix)
04. Wanderlust (Factory Floor Remix)