Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia: Dead Souls
Buzzin' Fly

Like Mlle Caro (Mademoiselle Caroline Laher) and Franck Garcia's previous single “Always You,” the follow-up “Dead Souls” is a strong ambassador for the Pain Disappears full-length from whence it comes. The new EP is a hefty package that pairs two versions of the original (one a Ben Watt radio edit) with overhauls by Radio Slave and two renderings by Mark Moore and Kinky Roland. The original song, a driving rock-inflected brooder that surrounds the duo's vocals with stabbing guitar parts and twilight synths and grounds it with a driving, bass-heavy rhythm attack, holds up after repeated listens but, in this case, the single's pièces de résistance are the remixes. Mark Moore and Kinky Roland's clubby “Dead Souls” makeover strips away the guitars to expose a swinging disco pulse that burns with locomotive electro fire at the song's center and that gradually morphs into a wiry Kompakt-ready schaffel (the remix is accompanied by an also-enticing “dub” version that downplays the vocals and intensifies the tune's trance dimension). All well and good but Radio Slave's “Long Distance Kiss Mix” is undoubtedly the top of the pops this time ‘round: twelve hypnotic minutes filled with tick-tock techno rhythms and billowing synth formations that envelop occasional vocal interjections and ghostly guitars. Needless to say, the single's a more-than-nice complement to the album.

April 2008