Austra - Sparkle

I'm not sure what Austra are. From listening to their slightly underwhelming album they are a kind of Zola Jesus-lite without the impressive hooter (voice). Here, they've been remixed by various producers I've never heard of. MNDR makes them sound like Debbie Harry fronting Depeche Mode. Mark Pistel uses the Moroder inspired gay disco throb, Planningtorock dust down the vocoder for a weird downtempo electronica which sits oddly with the 'Thriller' like pulse imagined by Still Going. Steffi Bass peddles some uninspiring euro disco then finally with only minutes of the record to go Kool Thing appear like a phoenix and at last provide the listener with something worth tweeting home about. This is chilly Germanic downtronica (hey - see what I did there?). It's altogether utterly lovely and they've used the vocals expertly so the keening voice sits amongst the haunting synths. This is one of those weird Domino remix 12"s which rely on dance producers, some of dubious quality, to attempt to take the artist into a different field. Planningtorock and Kool Thing excepted there isn't too much here of excitement though and you are left with the feeling of not being entirely sure who this is aimed at.