“Days of Glory” by Melbourne-based DJ/Producer SODA lite is a dazzling ray of sunshine emanating from one of Soundcloud’s more shadowy recesses. Released on the semi-parodic, online label Pedicure Records (the object of their parody, Manicure Records, releases whacked-out hyperpop in a similar vein to it-kids PC Music), the song sounds how a Toni Braxton cassette might sound if you left it out to warp in a sunlit garden. Indeed, the song is actually a pastel-drenched remix of the Toni Braxton and Babyface duet “Take it Back.” Aside from some light editing, the shifted pitch, and an accelerated tempo, the song remains mostly intact. But the effect of those changes is nothing short of exhilarating. Because the whole song has been shifted up in pitch, the music rarely dips into the lower ends of the sound spectrum and the sensuous textures of the original are rendered as a plastic shimmer.
The song’s music video is a maximalist bricolage of sentimental kitsch assembled with unprecedented sincerity. Through a pastel picture frame we see a bright, gauzy montage of beachside vistas, flying doves, luxury resorts, burning candles, more flying doves, a white woman staring pensively, and, best of all, a Second Life avatar—replete with blue hair and wings—jamming out on a transparent piano. While the song’s lyrics might long for days gone by, the music is largely divested of the hazy cloak of nostalgia and irony under which a great deal of postmodern pop labors. Consequently, SODA lite’s remix actually ends up sounding forward-looking in the way a kid might fantasize about a future composed of only the best and most beautiful parts of the past.
Joshua Palmer is a writer, musician, and dilettante-about-town living in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Trinity University with a major in Wumbology, a minor in English, and did his Honors Thesis on the effects of listening to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds while crying in bed about stupid boys who don’t even deserve you. He does not have a twitter and apologizes to everyone for this.
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