Listen: OMD – Dresden (Zebra and Snake Remix) [Best Fit Premiere]

Electro-pop stalwarts OMD are releasing ‘Dresden’, the second single from their English Electric LP, on 27 May via 100% Records.

Fellow Lancastrian and ex-Ultravox man John Foxx provided the first of two reworks; separating the track from its heady 80s roots to produce an altogether more abrasive cut of modern dance music. Now it’s the turn of Finnish synth-pop maestros Zebra and Snake, who offer a faintly Nordic take on the mix.

The trad-pop production values of the original are shirked once again with the Helsinki duo erring toward maximalism. Pirouetting keyboard riffs and lolloping bass notes are pared back with a lung-busting bass drum cycle, laserlike arpeggio bursts and sighing synth strings brought to the fore in their place. Zebra and Snake may not possess the thoroughbred guile of the Wirral-born outfit but few could deny their talent for harnessing chunky, contemporary dancefloor hooks and feel-good atmospherics.