Die Happy, Die Smiling is more of a protracted single than an EP, but if you think of it as an extended play of the single then you wouldn’t be far from the mark. Made up of the original song, the EP extends it with four different versions, catering to all your electro moods with just one song, and with but a few lyrics in itself.
The whole experience is sort of enjoyable. The original is a chilled out electro beats single with shades of Gary Numan fused with Delphic-like modern vibes. It builds out of little and gets under your skin quickly, despite being simplistic in the extreme.
What follows is a series of remixes by the likes of Maxime Dangles, Subscape and A Place to Bury Strangers.
The first of these is a layered electro dance slow bleed of epic proportions. Even with nearly nine minutes of track time, it never gets dull, and gives you freedom to let your mind wander.
The Maxine Dangles Dub track continues where the Remix ends and explores new sounds for Die happy, die smiling. Lyrically bereft, it’s a lot like an instrumental on an Animal Collective album.
The Subscape Remix is synth piano led with lots of effects ridden vocals. It’s also got a sort of Transformers sounds (like when they change from being a big rig into a robot) barking through it, that sort of lets it down a little, making this the least enjoyable of the remixes.
The last track on the EP is the A Place to Bury Strangers remix, which smashes it all home with an upbeat, sub-sunk speedster. Sounding like a Pains of Being Pure at Heart fusion with dance and electro, it’s a track that’s made for dance floors, bedrooms before going to town and early morning wake up calls.
Die happy, die smiling twists and turns with freshness and great sounds, but with just one song as the focal point for everything, it lacks the content to make it really cool.
Maps Die Dappy, Die Smiling EP review: 3.8/5
