The Pictish Trail - Winter Home Disco

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Ant on Thu 11 Dec, 2008.

Gotta clear vinyl 7" of Pictish Trail's 'Winter Home Disco' remixes by Hot Chip and Found. Who'd have thought Hot Chip would be doing another remix? Is there anyone that they haven't remixed. They must have ORD - Obsessive remixing disorder. I bet they'd be rearranging the contents of your fridge if you had them round for tea... Okay so I've not heard the original so a comparison is pretty useless but Hot Chip keep the production fairly sparse with a simple drum machine rhythm and subtle electronic sounds leaving room for the vocal to do the work. I'm very slightly reminded of Tears For Fears more sedate moments. The Found mix has the vocal less prominent in the mix with some pretty little electropop sounds and melodies reminding Phil a little of The Beta Band.

WINTER HOME DISCO, taken from the album ‘Secret Soundz Vol. 1’, is being released on 7” icy-clear vinyl, featuring two remixes of the song by The Pictish Trail’s favourite artists: HOT CHIP & FOUND.

The original version, available only on the album, is a thumping lo-fi stomp - about a housewarming party gone wrong. A heavy beat sits in the middle, eating all the crisps, surrounded by a bevy of gorgeous synths - while in the corner sits a lowly acoustic guitar, with only The Pictish Trail’s voice layered a gazillion times over the chorus for company ...

“You’ve got the light of the sun in your eyes ...”

Laid-back? They’ll give you laid-back. HOT CHIP have abandoned the drum machines, and have gone for a very chilled out take on the song with their remix. The Pictish Trail’s vocal is pushed all the way to the front, swimming in synth, and in the distance you can hear them sighing “ooooh”, and clicking their fingers. Dreamy.

Fence Record’s very own bleep-hop boy-band, FOUND, are no strangers to remixing. This year alone, they’ve done some stunning remixes for King Creosote, Attic Lights, Make Model, Au Revoir Simone, Free Blood, amongst others. They put their trigger-fingers to work on Winter Home Disco on the B-side, and warm things up a bit with some sweaty 80’s calypso, that explodes into a gorgeous Tetris minefield.

The single was mastered for vinyl by Reuben Taylor (James Yorkston & The Athletes), and the amazing artwork was created by top-comic illustrator Christian Ward.

SIDE A: Winter Home Disco (Hot Chip Remix)

SIDE B: Winter Home Disco (FOUND Remix)