Here’s an interesting one, Norway’s Tuvaband collaborates with Jamaican Lee Scratch Perry to remix a track, ‘Irreversible’, from her recent album ‘Growing Pains and Pleasures’. It sounds as if it could be part of the script lifted from the film ‘Cool Runnings’ about a Jamaican bobsleigh team.
And it gets stranger still when you hear Tuva Hellum Marschhäuser’s traditional funereal tones overlaid with a reggae beat and all the associated jangly paraphernalia that goes with it. Now that is surreal, man.
Readers might know I have mixed feelings about remixes. While there are some good ones around, generally I don’t think they add much to the original and all too often detract from it.
At a pinch I would say this particular one works for me. The main reason is that Tuvaband’s songs, simply because of the way she sings them, in that slightly ghostly voice, can begin to sound a little similar after a while. So there’s no harm in mixing things up a bit here. The reggae bit is upbeat, of course, and sounds like it’s been recorded in an echo chamber.
Moreover, it brings an optimistic note to the song and that’s something you can rarely say about Tuvaband. As I mentioned in a previous review, and in her own words, “a lot of the songs [on the album] have feelings of fear; an irrational and vague, but constant fear”. But this song is about “our irreversible actions and lack of actions, when it comes to environment issues.” Well you wouldn’t want to paint your ‘future hopes’ scenario in that respect like a memorial service would you? Unless you’re a certainSwedish teenager, in which case you would. When push comes to shove I prefer Tuvaband/LSP’s glass half full take on it.
The collaboration with LSP cane about as a result of a short stay she had in Jamaica some years ago to write a sociology paper; becoming fascinated with Jamaican society and culture she got to know his music and says, .”I really wanted to hear my music through his ears, and wanted to collaborate with him somehow. I realised that a remix could be a good place to start.” That’s a pretty broad hint of more to come.
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