Local Natives unveil ‘Wide Eyes’(Fool’s Gold Remix)’*

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Despite its sunny-day-in-California sound, “Wide Eyes,”* by Local Natives, tackles sinister and spiritual terrain. Lyrics about evil spirits, fear and questions of faith balance the celestial harmonies of the Silver Lake-based band.

Yet on his “Wide Eyes” remix, Lewis Pesacov of the Black Iris collective finds a way to mirror the song’s uneasy subject matter, burying the Natives’ pretty boy coos under an industrial coat of grime.

Crafting a beat reminiscent of El-P, buzzing with claustrophobic synths and snapping drums, Pesacov displays his versatility, having been previously best known for the Afro-pop-infused guitar lines in Foreign Born and Fool’s Gold.

Enlisting rapper Aristotle Pop a Bottle to jump-start the track with a 16-bar rap, the new version fulfills the old-school definition of a remix: something that provides a fresh twist on the original, rather than just blank-check raps from big names.

The “Wide Eyes” remix is the A side of the limited-edition 7” vinyl that Pesacov’s Black Iris imprint will be releasing in the near future. A track from Philadelphia’s Free Energy will be on the B-Side. In the meantime, it’s summer and this jams.

-- Jeff Weiss

Download:
MP3: Local Natives -- “Wide Eyes (Fool’s Gold Remix)”

*Correction: The original version of this post got the name of the Local Natives song wrong. It’s called “Wide Eyes,” not “Eyes Wide.” We have fixed it above.

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