As I understand it, Hal is a bunch of techno dudes, mostly well-known for... well,
nothing much. Until they hooked up with actress Gillian Anderson ("Dana Scully" of the
X-files, as you probably already know), that is. Great idea - let's contact some famous
celebrity, musician or not doesn't matter, to help sell a track no one would ever buy
otherwise. Sounds like it might be a really crappy track to you? You're right, it might.
But it's not. I actually like it. Really.
As you might suspect, ms Anderson provides the vocals. It's a bit of a stretch
to call it singing, it's mostly just whispering the vocals sort of in rhythm with
the track. Even though I'm no big fan of the show (X-files, that is) I still distinctly
recognise the voice as hers from the episodes I have seen. She does her best to
sound sexy and mysterious, and I bet a lot of teenage X-files fanboys almost wet their
pants just thinking about it - especially those into both techno and the X-files.
Anyway, she does a fairly decent job of it. Nothing extraordinary, I bet lots of other
women could do it equally good or better, but then again I'd probably never heard of
the track now, would I? It appears their marketing strategy worked.
So what about the music? Well, it's a reasonably slow and laid-back track, some
acid basslines, tinkly piano, funky beats etc. The first remix is a bit more uptempo
and dancey, yet still quite dreamy. There's some extra piano inserts here and there,
and it's overall a rather good remix. The third is by far my favourite, though. It's
done by Download (members from Skinny Puppy)
and quite hectic. Breakbeat psychotic drumtrack with an industrial twist? Well, I love
it anyway. Maybe I should look into some Download? Hmm. The last remix is essentially
the same as the second, only a bit longer and more technoey.
In short, a rather good single, quite varied although it's only remixes of the same
track. I only heard the song once before I got this CD in a trade (hello Carl!),
but I remembered it as being pretty Ok. Good thing I was pleasantly surprised; it's
worth it for the Download remix alone.
