Pitchfork Forkcast: New Music: Alaska in Winter: "Horsey Horse (Extended Remix

New Music: Alaska in Winter: "Horsey Horse (Extended Remix - Quiet)" [MP3/Stream]

Alaska in Winter's original version of "Horsey Horse", from Dance Party in the Balkans, was the most intimately human breed of song: a tender love ballad, exhaled with ardor over creeping piano. Yet it seemed to subtly destabilize this sense of immediacy by design. Little frequency quavers and a light glaze of vocoder on the vocals reminded us of the translucent yet perceptible digital veil between performer and audience. At first, this extended mix of "Horsey Horse" seems more of a reconsideration that a proper remix. It's simply mastered a bit quieter, as if it wants you to lean in a little more. It's the extra couple of minutes at the end that elevate it above the source material: The best songs on Alaska in Winter's album connected the dots between ambient instrumentation and clockwork beats, and the springy electro pulse at the end of this remix completes the line begun by the dreamy piano phrases of the song proper. The listener's lean-in pays off when the music jumps out.