Available on: Editions Mego 7″

The most inspired collaborations are often those that would never occur to most people, and who would have thought that putting modern day synth maestro Oneohtrix Point Never and Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons fame in the same room would have such revelatory results?

This reworking of the title track from Oneohtrix’s most recent LP finds him effortlessly swapping synthesizer for piano to show that he’s far from a one trick pony. While the original was an elegant example of the ethereal soundscapes that have become Oneohtrix’s trademark, this reinterpretation is decidedly more tangible. No longer smothered in intricate layers of synth modulations, Oneohtrix uses the piano to scoop out handfuls of the melody and lay them out in front of the listener.

The same can be said for the vocals, where Antony draws out meaning from Oneohtrix’s indiscernible murmurings. While I still might not understand Anthony’s references to the “internet as a self-atomising machine”, his poignant declaration that “you’ve never left, you’ve been here the whole time” reverberates in the air long after the final piano chord has dissipated into the ether. The wavering vocals also lend the track a sense of vulnerability that is, if not missing, then certainly camouflaged in the original. Between them the pair extract a disarmingly emotive and ultimately human piece of music, a thing of fragile beauty that is a testament both to the chameleonic talents of Oneohtrix and confirmation of Antony’s status as a vocalist of understated power.

James Waldron