Lykke Li – Sadness is a Blessing (Gold Panda Remix)

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Gold Panda‘s remix of Lykke Li‘s ‘Sadness is a Blessing’ and the original song are studies on the same subject, but from different angles. It is as if they are paintings of the same model, but from different places in the room. There is a difference in where the light and dark is, where the shadows fall, yet both capture the indelible spirit of their subject.

In the original, the bass propells the song with the Spector-esque sounds of a heartbroken girl stomping her feet with tears in her eyes. In the remix, the bass is internalised - a heart pounding, the feeling of emotions so overwhelming they feel they’re going to break out of your chest.

There is also a greater prominence given to the vocals in this version, revealing them to be at once gutteral and beautiful, powerful and extremely fragile - like an animal cry. It is as if in the original Lykke Li is reaching out and telling you about her pain, whereas here she is talking to herself.

Both versions work towards capturing the sense of sublimity of which the song speaks. The idea that ’Sadness is a Blessing’ – that there is something like joy to be taken from the feeling of great hurt that comes from a complete immersion in misery. They find different ways to express this barrage of emotion - in the original, it is with a wall-of-sound, in this version it is with the layering of delicate sounds, gradually building towards a climax, and then something like hope.

The original ’Sadness is a Blessing’ is on Lykke Li’s album Wounded Rhymes, out now.

Lykke Li – Sadness Is A Blessing (Gold Panda Remix) by TLOBF