- C.A.R. (Choosing Acronyms Randomly, apparently) is the new solo project from Chloé Raunet, ex-singer in the sadly departed Kill The DJ band Battant. Where Battant's work generally had a spiky punkishness to it, C.A.R. finds her dealing more in slick, deliciously blank electro/cold wave. "Idle Eyes" is a fairly simple, well-executed take on this form, with Raunet's blank-eyed vocal ("I'm about to vandalise/ vandalise you all") slicing through a landscape of gently building bass notes and soft background sounds.
The package comes with four remixes, all of which retain all or a fair portion of that striking vocal. Roman Flügel's is the clear pick, its initial focal point of a rattlesnake bassline eventually joined by spiralling keys and pads, which swell together for a euphoric climax. Planningtorock's "Vandalise You" remix is a winner too, with sharp strings arcing around the vocal—the modification of which to sound male makes the track feel like a subtly defiant anthem. Elsewhere, Clara 3000 and Rroxymore offer up less remarkable reworks that still have their own virtues. The former surrounds the vocal with springy toms, flecks of guitar and looming bass groans, and the latter concocts a fractured wall of bass and klaxon wails, and ladles echo and filter into Raunet's vocals.
Tracklist01. Idle Eyes
02. Idle Eyes (Roman Flügel Remix)
03. Idle Eyes (Planningtorock "Vandalise You All" Remix)
04. Idle Eyes (Clara 3000 Remix)
05. Idle Eyes (rRoxymore Remix)