- Vocals add a touch of theatre to dance music tracks. But what if your tunes are theatrical enough without them? That's the problem facing "Monument," the new big-room anthem from Tale Of Us and Vaal. Both acts make dramatic tracks, often with monster melodies, so putting a vocal into the mix was always going to be risky. It's not one that pays off—the original is a solid slice of tech house rendered unnecessarily melodramatic by Vaal's vocals.
This spells bad news for this follow-up remix EP, a three-track effort that pulls together interpretations by Barnt, Stephan Bodzin and Adriatique. They all place the vocal front and centre, which makes the package hard to like. At nearly ten minutes long, Barnt's is easily the most drawn out. It's also the noisiest, with intense bouts of rapid-fire percussion that heighten the drama and feel out of step with the original's dainty melody. Bodzin does a better job, taking the mellow approach with a bed of simmering synths that gently swell and recede. Even so, the track's trancey apex is a lot to take. DJs looking for a trackier update might go for the Adriatique remix, but the only advantage is that the vocal doesn't come in for a good three minutes—enough time, for some, to line up the next record and mix out.
Tracklist01. Monument (Barnt Remix)
02. Monument (Stephan Bodzin Remix)
03. Monument (Adriatique Remix)