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Katie Noonan: Second Skin

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Release date: 19 April 2008 (Mushroom)
The remix album has long been an inessential purchase for all but the most completist of music fans. It traditionally has a shelf life comparable to dairy - I'm willing to bet that the last time anyone actually listened to, say, Britney's B In the Mix: The Remixes was about 3 weeks after its in initial release. But a new breed of Australian artists is rehabilitating the humble remix album. First came Gotye, who won an ARIA award not for his 2006 Like Drawing Blood, but for its exceptional 2007 remixed counterpart Mixed Blood. Now, Katie Noonan follows her long-awaited debut album Skin with this, a track-by-track re-imagining that ups the tempo of the originals without sacrificing any of their nuance.

Skin was a sweet, if occasionally inconsequential collection. Noonan has, for Second Skin, teamed up with the Electro Funk Lovers - aka John Course and mrTimothy - who've taken the original tracks and added some welcome meat to their bones. The choice of Course and MrTimothy for mixing duties was not without risk: both are renowned for mixing enjoyably trashy anthems, so one could've expected them to turn Second Skin into a 70-minute mix CD of arms-aloft electro house.

But this is one remix album mercifully free of anonymous, 10-minute doof-doof-fests. Instead, the duo lovingly tease out the funk and disco touches that lay under the surface of Noonan's original compositions. One Step, in particular, sounds like it'd be right at home on Michael Jackson's Off the Wall. Elsewhere, Time To Begin - already a radio hit in its original state - is transformed into a dance floor anthem, while Logic becomes an electro-flecked gem.

Throughout, Noonan's vocals (much of which were re-recorded to fit their new setting) bring an intimacy that makes the album a rewarding listen. I, for one, will certainly be playing it far longer than I ever did my impulse-bought copy of J To Tha L-O!: The Remixes.

Tracks:
1. Who Are You
2. Logic
3. Time To Begin
4. One Step
5. Love's My Song For You
6. Return
7. A Little Smile
8. Bluebird
9. Little Boy Man
10. Sunshine
11. Home
12. Send Out a Little Love

Nick Bond, May 2008