S U R V I V E - RR7387

S U R V I V E has achieved a modicum of a fame, partly off the back of the excellent work from members Kyle and Michael providing the soundtrack for the Netflix series Stranger Things. Their latest is a short EP of remixes, RR7387, from last year's album, the similarly (and confusingly) titled RR7349. Containing just four tracks, it nevertheless manages to leave a decent impression, while nodding back here and there to familiar sounds for fans of the show.

'Cutthroat (Lena Wilkens Remix)' starts a bit slow but builds into a rolling piece of semi-darkwave, with some interesting clanging and beats showing up midway through. 'High Rise (Not Waving Remix)' has an almost ambient opening, but morphs into quiet, quickly burbling IDM before trailing off into a plodding, meditative section that merges back in with the faster beats. 'Wardenclyffe (Same Haar Remix)'  starts out sounding something like mid-career Aphex Twin, but takes a glitchy, shimmering turn through its middle. Final track 'Other (Justin K Broadrick as JK Flesh Reimx)' closes out the set strongly, with percussion like a military industrial march, but muted and gentled, and overridden by some delightfully dark synths in the late going. It feels the kind of song you'd listen to while taking care of dirty work, perhaps driving down a muddy road at midnight on unspeakable business. As can sometimes be the case, strongly contrasting styles (Broadrick is of course the mastermind behind industrial metal progenitors Godflesh) can lead to the most interesting results when it comes to remixes. That's definitely the case here.

While not quite as good as a lot of their soundtrack work, this EP is solid enough. Considering it's all remixes, it shouldn't necessarily reflect directly on the band themselves, but more on the remixers. If you only want a taste, grab 'Other' first and maybe give the others a listen.