Listen: Wilsen - "Emperor (Death Vessel Remix)"

05 March 2015, 10:30 | Written by Jon Putnam

(Tracks)

(Wilsen)

The road to one’s demise is often likely viewed in retrospect as a slow, somber, stately march to eternity. However, the details in real time are tense and energetic – think, all of the biological reactions coursing through the body shutting it down, loved ones rushing to the bedside, grief-stricken anger and inconsolable sorrow flowing forth.

Coming on the heels of last year’s wonderful Magnolia EP, Best Fit favorites Wilsen will be offering a remix of that EP next month and we are proud and pleased to exclusively feature a peek. Wilsen’s original “Emperor” recounted the death of its namesake in stark austerity, frontwoman Tamsin Wilson employing a dexterous use of space and silence to create a stoic, quietly deafening scene.

As a sharp counterpoint, Death Vessel (nom de plume of Rhode Island alt-folkie Joel Thibodeau) packs the track with frantic percussion and otherworldly vocal swirls. Whereas the original seemed at a monochrome, ten-thousand foot view of the scene, one can practically see the bright red blood spatters at their feet as the sharp snares and hi-hats underpin Wilson’s graphic scene, “now he’s coughing crimson kneeling on the floor”.

Magnolia – Remix, featuring remixes of the other tracks by Wye Oak, White Hinterland, and Sun Glitters, will be available 14 April. Wilsen will play SXSW in Austin, TX 18-20 March before supporting alt-soulman Matthew E White on his US tour.