Pitchfork

"I know all about fear and desire/ I know all about lust, et cetera," the Long Blondes' Kate Jackson memorably asserts on one of several highlights from the Sheffield, UK band's 2006 Someone to Drive You Home. The serious bit: The Long Blondes know a thing or two about "Guilt", as well. This song is one of the better ones from the group's disappointingly uptight new offering, "Couples", sounding a bit like its predecessor's surging "You Could Have Both" after a slinky electro makeover and enough time to get resigned to Jackson's "contingency plan." Remixer Pantha du Prince doesn't keep much more of the original than the textured sighing of Jackson's wordless opening vocals, plus this warning: "You know what it's like/ This happens to everyone". In reimagining the track after his own style, Prince (aka Hendrik Weber) fits it with house beats, bell-like chimes, and low-key melodies, for the kind of dreamy ambient listen Aphex Twin might've considered including on 1995's I Care Because You Do. Which, come to think of it, would've been a great Long Blondes song title.

Bonus: And here's the dog-filled video for the Long Blondes' original "Guilt".

[from "Couples"; out now in the UK and due 05/06/08 in the U.S. from Rough Trade]