Empathy Test released my favorite album of 2020. Today, that album, Monsters, gets an expanded edition with a nice set of remixes.
You can find Monsters – Expanded on Bandcamp. Today is the first Bandcamp Friday of 2021, which means Bandcamp is waiving its revenue share to help support artists whose livelihoods are disrupted by the ongoing pandemic. Buy it.
The expanded edition of Monsters includes all 10 album tracks, plus six remixes, as well as their 2019 song “A River Loves a Stone.” Remix artists include TRAAPS, Man Without Country, Ari Mason, The New Division, Kanga, and SONO.
For me, the standout track here is the SONO remix of “Love Moves,” which is one of my favorite songs from Monsters. SONO has turned “Love Moves” into a dark banger with a higher tempo and a ton of reverb. I hope to hear this in a club someday.
Here’s what I had to say about Monsters in my 2020 recap:
“Every track is like exhaling a new emotion. There’s the relationship turmoil behind “Monsters” and “Doubts,” the personal anxiety that penetrates “Skin,” the exquisite beauty of places your feelings take you in “Love Moves,” there’s even an of-the-moment track (“Fear of Disappearing”) that captures what it feels like to live through social isolation. Monsters is all our messy lives laid bare and the best synthpop album of the year.”
