Were the 25 voices of The Silver Lake Chorus to belt out "From the Snow Tipped Hills" on a mountainside, I'd run for fear of an avalanche. The original, written for the group by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, is built around an ethereal vocal arrangement, bare in instrumentation and full of power. The Silver Lake Chorus' forthcoming album features similar choral arrangements of songs written by indie-rock acts, among them Sia, Aimee Mann, The Bird and the Bee, Tegan and Sara and The New Pornographers.
Naturally, the vocal-only cut lends itself to remix treatment, and now the L.A.-based remixers in Gold and Soil (Asura and Ana Caravelle) have taken on the task. The Caravelles have given the song a freewheeling rhythm section and whirling embellishments, cutting the original's vocals into pitchy ribbons throughout. The added percussion feels textured, at one point shifting abruptly into a different tempo that momentarily breaks the spell cast by the looped male voice, only to return to its groove gracefully. Along the way, Gold and Soil's remix preserves The Silver Lake Chorus' crystalline moodiness, while adding a little head-nod along the way.
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