The collision of indie-rock five-piece Spector and Cologne techno producer Wolfgang Voigt seems an unlikely one.
But here, improbably, it works. Kompakt co-founder Voigt was last heard flying the flag high for two extremes of his aesthetic – crisp, sample-based techno and gaseous ambient – back in March, with the Umbau 2 and Rückverzauberung 6 EPs respectively.
For his remix of ‘Never Fade Away’, Voigt veers closer to the former – a precise, metronomic pulse pins the thing down – but remoulds the guitar part into puffs of cool, softening vapour. Fred Macpherson’s looped vocal is rendered wispy and insubstantial, before being supplanted by sun-dappled curlicues of synth – a perfect accompaniment to the fading heat of a midsummer’s evening.
Spector’s debut album, Enjoy It While It Lasts, will be released next Monday, August 13. No release date is yet confirmed for Voigt’s remix – but we’re assured that it will be out imminently.