Monday 2 August 2021

What I Once Refused To Be Is Everything They Long Together

Entertainment is the lead single and opening track from the 2013 album Bankrupt! by the French band Phoenix. There were a few remixes to accompany the release, from Dinosaur Jr. (a cover version, which sounds pretty much as you'd imagine) and Dirty Projectors (so-so). 

The one I keep coming back to though is by Dev Hynes, in his Blood Orange guise, which sounds almost like it's been lifted from a 1980s movie soundtrack. In a surprising move, the remix also features guest vocals from Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan & Siobhan Donaghy aka the original line-up of Sugababes. 

After numerous iterations, and by that time none of the founding members, Sugababes had finally crashed in 2011. At the time the original trio were unable to reuse the Sugababes name and instead had to promote themselves as Mutya Keisha Siobhan. They were writing and recording with Dev Hynes, hence their appearance on the Phoenix remix, roughly 6 months before the release of (I think) their sole single, Flatline

I'm not going to pretend that I have any real interest in Sugababes but whatever my thoughts (or indifference) towards the band, their harmonies on the chorus really lift the remix to another level. The Guardian reviewed the remix back in 2013. It's no longer available as a free download, but you can still stream it on Soundcloud.

The official video for the rather more upbeat sounding original version is also (excuse the pun) very entertaining.

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