Owen Rabbit takes Pikachunes’ bombastic, confessional banger You Are and turns it on its head. Unsettling and shadowy, it is eerily beautiful. Love takes many forms after all.
Those familiar with Pikachunes (Miles G. Loveless) will know that there’s no shortage of emotion packed into the Melbourne native’s unique brand of brooding electro-pop.
His latest You Are is no exception. Contrasting chorus line “You are the most important thing in the world to me” with lyrical allusions to the untimely demise of a jaded lover, the darkly emotive track straddles somewhere between a devotional love song and murder ballad.
Stripping away the raw bombast of Pika’s original arrangement Owen Rabbit re-purposes the fractured narrative of You Are with subdued vocals and nuanced production. There’s certainly something evocative of the dub-step infused R&B of London producer James Blake in the track’s soulful vocals and subatomic bass. Like Blake’s breakthrough single Retrograde from 2013’s Overgrown, Rabbit weaves a cold and minimalistic soundscape.
Experimental ticks and scratches drag amidst stuttering beats and ominous synth chords. The delicate and melancholic vocal doublings, particularly on the track’s sing-song chorus line, create an eerily beautiful effect. The meanderingly slow tempo creates an unsettling air of ambiguity. Despite an immersive layering of sonic elements, it’s hard to shake the feeling of isolation and creeping anxiety which permeates the track.
While the original cut of You Are captures moments of passion and reckless abandon, Owen Rabbit’s re-imagining inhabits the bleak mindset of a twisted yet calculating being. Whereas Pika’s heart-on-sleeve anguish resonates with the angsty teen in all of us, Rabbit entices the listener to become lost in the troubled head space of a shadowy protagonist. Taking the heartache of the original to a more sinister and ambiguous space, the Melbournian producer has delivered an unnervingly dark reworking of You Are.
For those looking to catch Owen Rabbit in the flesh, the Melbournian producer will be sharing some wisdom at St. Kilda Festival’s Australians Take Flight workshop on February 13th.
