Clara Moto: Deer & Fox Remixes
InFiné

Clara Prettenhofer's fabulous Clara Moto EP Deer and Fox includes the entrancing dance-pop original (from her Polyamour full-length) plus remix treatments by dOP, Stacey Pullen, Tolouse Low Trax, and Ritornell. Enhancing the release's appeal is the dramatically different stylistic takes the guests bring to the track.

The original itself is enhanced considerably by the vocal presence of Mimu (Miriam Mone) whose silky coo delivers the song's euphoric vocal melodies with just the right touch of breezy sensuality (it's also hard not to hear some small trace of Bjork in Mone's repeated utterance “Will my skin make her a bag”). The gently jacking base Prettenhofer fashions gives the song propulsion and sparkle without overpowering Mone in the process. French trio dOP gives the tune an irresistibly funky makeover that finds a bubbly groove providing a support to the vocal that sounds as natural as the one powering the original. True to its irreverent nature, dOP puts Mone's voice through all manner of liberal treatments—spinning it into a stuttering blur and blanketing it with distortion—but never so much that the effects seem gratuitous. Detroit producer Stacey Pullen transforms the original into a raw, eight-minute techno banger where congas, claps, and churning synthesizers add fuel to the locomotive charge. The version by Austrian producer Ritornell (Richard Eigner) couldn't seemingly be any more different from Pullen's, re-fashioning the piece as it does into a dreamy lounge piece where strings, brushed snares, and piano conjure a celestial trip-hop variation. Finally, Karaoke Kalk outfit Tolouse Low Trax recasts the song as an electro-tribal exercise in peyote-fueled psychodrama. No matter the treatment, the hypnotic vocal lines “At least I have been with you / At least I have had you for a while” appear, ensuring that there always remains some degree of connectedness between the makeovers.

January 2011