The latest slab of electro pop from Ms Berge-Strand, lifted from her recent DJ Kicks collection for !K7 Records, promises so much yet delivers very little. A clattering melange of robotic vocals, phasers and fractured kick drums, it sounds very much like something from the 'Anniemal' sessions that should have been left alone altogether, let alone escaping into the wider world as a stand alone single.
The shame here is that a superior live version of the track, recorded for an American radio station, has been doing the rounds on internet blogs for several months now. Whereas the DJ Kicks cut sounds tired and repetitive, the live cut is full of strange vocodered swirls and swoops, flitting in between Annie’s mischievous vocals like a sugar-high toddler running around the living room on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, this is not the live version included as one of the two accompanying B-sides (the other a dreadful My Sharona ‘inspired’ remix from Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas). Instead, we get a dour reading of the track that sounds more akin to a poor Max Headroom soundtrack than a night out in Hoxton (and if you don’t know who Max Headroom is kids, then that's what Google is for. Get searching!)
Nevertheless, ’The Wedding’ should be regarded as a minor blip in an otherwise excellent year for the Norwegian pop-songstress. 2005 saw her deliver a classy debut LP loved by both indie kids and hipster cogniscenti alike, plus a mix album for one of Germany’s coolest and most consistent labels. Don’t walk down that aisle just yet Ms Berge-Strand.
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4Euan McLean's Score