Saint Lucia – We Got It Wrong (Xaphoon Jones Remix)

Before you even start in with the whole ‘But you think that anything Xaphoon Jones does is gold, never doubt the kid’s midas touch and therefore can’t really be said to have an objective opinion about this newest treatment of New York City’s Neon Gold Records newest signing, St Lucia, can you?’ listen to this song. The original is kind of nice in the sort of hazy analogue sound that has propelled the careers of Toro Y Moi and scores of pretenders to his chillwave/beach-house throne but doesn’t ultimately leave you with any sense that you might need to immediately listen to the track, with cute harmonies, heavy floor tom work and the sort of tribal meets electro vibe that just makes everything uber hip and uber now, again. At nearly five minutes long, it has some good ideas but could do with some curatorial oversight – a good producer with an ear for what works and what doesn’t and someone who might readily cut the slack and introduce one man St Lucia in a tauter, tighter fashion.

Thus Neon Gold, keen purveyor of 7″ records and a real old-school type label which, despite an agreement with Columbia Records, is intensely familial and endearingly proud on its regularly updated blog, turned to Xaphoon Jones, one half of the indomitable Chiddy Bang and a remixer of some note, to give St Lucia’s entrance a bit more bang than the original ‘We Got It Wrong’ delivered. The result is ridiculous. Considering that the man started his production life with Chiddy Bang basically riffing on the choruses of indie hits and constructing catchy but often sparse synth arrangements around these popular hooks for Chidera to rap over, ‘We Got It Wrong’ is proof that the last few years haven’t seen Xaphoon resting on his laurels but rather, fiercely improving his skills and building on his natural drumming ability with a considerably greater investment in the synth aspect of his production. Where Chiddy Bang material is still often spare (aiding rather than distracting from Chiddy’s flow), Xaphoon obviously has the capacity to expand out into electronica. On ‘We Got It Wrong’, he lets it rip.

An opening populated by hand claps and very tinny sounding hi-hat work is quickly bolstered by a compelling bass line, next-level 8-bit synth chords and an elusive higher melody, sometimes modulated, that runs riot over the whole thing, popping in and out of troughs of bass and disappearing just as quickly when the vocals, low and mysterious, arrive on the scene. The progression of these vocals, moving up a key with each line, becomes almost peripheral to the overarching thesis that Xaphoon presents. We’re eager throughout to find out just how the next section of synths will resolve itself and, as if only toying with the song for fun, Xaphoon reveals all by deconstructing the track just as it reaches its zenith so that we end as we begun, with chords giving way to bass forfeiting, eventually, to the power of the handclap. The most simple of percussive elements, Xaphoon’s use of the handclap is impressive in that it remains a transparent device. If you screw up handclaps, everyone knows about it. Conversely, Xaphoon does it so well that you hardly even notice they’re there, pushing the narrative along with light applause. And Xaphoon’s treatment of ‘We Got It Wrong’, once in the vein of Crystal Fighters and NewVillager, now it’s own, entirely different but entirely satisfying beast, deserves celebration.

Saint Lucia – We Got It Wrong (Xaphoon Jones Remix)