Au Revoir Simone/ Night Light

Au Revoir Simone
Night Light
(Moshi Moshi)

Beware, my pretties! Beware the remix album... for it is the mark of the beast! Only doom will come with the remix album, my pretties!
Or so goes the popular saying amongst witch-like music critics.
Which makes this one something of a refreshing surprise: instead of turning Au Revoir Simone's 2009 album 'Still Night, Still Light' into a broken microchip of a record, the remixers here have done an admirable job of re-interpretation.
'Another Likely Story' has gone from being as gently euphoric shag-anthem to a luminous trip to the 1980s discotheque (thanks to Neon Indian), while 'The Last One' now trips along to a reggae groove. 'All Or Nothing' feels like summertime at the Moulin Rouge, while 'Take Me As I Am' could almost be a Warp Records single, albeit one written by one of the face-huggers from Aliens.
To put it another way, the remixes are all diverse enough to keep you guessing what's coming up next, while maintaining that 'love affair in Barcelona' freshness that the original record had in spades.