The Drood – “It Must Needs Wither” (Dead Voices On Air ReMix)
The Drood – “It Must Needs Wither” (Dead Voices On Air ReMix) – Singles Review
Hopefully you’ve been doin’ the right thing for your ears and been listening to the Denver-based oddity known as The Drood by now, because you should be…you should always support true uniqueness in creativity, wherever you may find it. From what I can tell, the original version of “It Must Needs Wither” was released on my birthday back in January this year (Thanks The Drood!), and they’ve enlisted the assistance of Dead Voices On Air to lay down a remix of this atmospherically-inclined new single for ya.
I think a couple things can be true when it comes to this tune. You’re never going to find me being one of those old people on the porch yelling about how the ‘original version is always better’ whilst I fill my adult diapers, but in this particular instance I might side with the original being a bit more robust and dynamic when it comes to how things sound. I’m not opposed to what I hear in this Dead Voices On Air remix at all – I think it gives this song the more artistic variation that kind of inspired its existence in the first place, and might have even come out closer to what The Drood envisioned with this song at the start when they set out to create it. It is, after all, “inspired by Shakespeare’s Othello and dedicated to the memory of all those we know who perished in the last couple of years” – so you can certainly get that they’d want a high degree of artful vibes infused into the roots of the DNA of this cut as a result of that. In this regard, I think what Dead Voices On Air has helped them accomplish likely brings this tune closer to the original vision by spreading out their sound with massive distance into the atmospheric realm.
Side-note, I love basically anything/everything that has something to do with Othello. Pulling many words straight outta the play to create this song, The Drood actually delve right into the art of making music into art here, and personally, y’all know I dig that. I think it’s one of the most extraordinary compliments that we can pay to anyone’s work when art inspires art…that’s always a beautiful thing, straight up. That being said, the more artistic you tend to be with your music, the less of a universal vibe you’ll usually find along with it; that’s very much the risk, the natural result, and so be it. I’d much rather find bands like The Drood or any of you creative-types out there creating undeniable art as opposed to simply trying to craft the next addictive hook designed for mainstream consumption; but that right there is also the difference between a personal opinion and what makes music universal, in a nutshell. I’ll say this though…a remix SHOULD be something like how “It Must Needs Wither” comes out in this new version…it’s supposed to do something noticeably different than the original does, and this definitely accomplishes that main requirement. As to whether or not it pleases the people out there as much, that’ll be a much more individual thing…I don’t always need a remix to be better, I just need it to do something different.
Where I suppose I’d be concerned at least a little about this variation & remix, is that in trading for its atmospherically-based sound, the cold & airy new vibe to it takes a lot out of the warmth of the original that was brought to it by bassist Hayden Peltier. The reality is, not every song we’re ever going to make as a band is going to have every single player be the star of the show – that’s not mathematically possible – and sometimes, we’ve gotta take a back seat in order to let the other members shine for a moment or two. Or in this case, to let Dead Voices On Air bring its own natural instincts to the remix to see what else might be there within this song, and then artistically mining it for more musical minerals. I do think that the desolate & haunting theme of “It Must Needs Wither” is more apparent through this new version & that the synths of Daniel Watts & vocals of Nathan Jamiel are enhanced that much more.
Mainly positives, not really negatives, you feel me? Different – which again, should always be the true goals of a remix altogether. I think The Drood continues to create compelling tunes that challenge the status quo of what we normally hear out there in the scene, and I genuinely think that matters/thank them for that. Dead Voices On Air clearly has a gift for creating tangible atmospheric depth and top-shelf audio productions. It’s probably fair to say that the “It Must Needs Wither (Dead Voices On Air ReMix)” will appeal to a narrower slice of the people out there overall, but likely still comes closer to the song they originally set out to create. Ultimately, when it comes to the art of making music, you’re never gonna please all of the people all of the time anyway, so it’s probably best to create things in a way that’s most pleasing to you and let the chips fall where they may. There are more than enough folks like myself out there on the internet that appreciate music like this & bands like The Drood that choose to do things differently, and sincerely applaud moments in time where art is able to inspire more art, like you’ll find in this remix.
Make sure to find out more about The Drood from their official website at: https://thedrood.com
Find out what we do & how we do it at sleepingbagstudios, and be the next up on our pages by clicking here!
