Review: Noir – 'RE:MIT:TENT'

NOIR
'RE:MIT:TENT'
METROPOLIS RECORDS

Noir's début 'Darkly Near' was a perfect synthesis of front man Athan Maroulis dark cabaret work with Black Tape For A Blue Girl and the sharp dark electro of Spahn Ranch. A retro-futuristic album drawing on minimalistic electro-goth and sublime beat-driven futurepop that explored a haunting portrait of New York City. Its no wonder that remix album is on the cards, and the fact that twenty internationally renowned artists have added their take to Noir's first album says a lot about Maroulis' impact over the course of his career.

Names such as Man Made Men, Assemblage 23, Ego Likeness, Deadliner, Inertia, Die Sektor, and Black Tape For A Blue Girl bring ebm, industrial, trance, edm, rock and dark ambient into the mix to radically alter the tracks. Some become energised with a renewed dance-friendly edge, while others delve into more experimental waters.

'RE:MIT:TENT' is a varied collection that significantly broadens the appeal of the already appealing début. In particular the likes of Man Made Man's take on 'A Forest', 'My Dear' by Ego Likeness, 'The Bells' by Deadliner, 'In Every Dream Home A Heartache' by Displacer, 'The Voyeurs' by Black Tape For A Blue Girl, and the versions of 'Timephase' by Inertia, Die Sektor and PBK & Artemis K really stand out from the crowd and are worth the price of the album alone.

The album is nicely put together and with the sheer variety on offer the twenty tracks just fly by. There is plenty here that will make a good contribution to any DJ's arsenal, but it also offers a lot of tracks that are best to sit and listen to as well.

Remix albums aren’t usually very satisfying but 'RE:MIT:TENT' has plenty of character to it which makes it a more interesting stop-gap between studio albums. Hopefully though it won't be too long before another studio album is on the cards.

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