Even before the beats on 1996’s Walking Wounded made Everything But the Girl electro-pop royalty overnight, I was often a wee distracted by some forced lyricism. The insistence on the standard verse/chorus form with the A/B scheme sometimes made lofty sentiments feel overwrought. The remix resolves this issue. Suddenly, forced rhymes flow smoothly in abstract dubs. In her solo work, lead singer and songwriter Tracey Thorn has benefited immensely from her collaborations with some of the best remixers in the game. In their hands and freeform beats, Thorn’s  singular, soothing voice takes on a ethereal glow that shines a brighter light on the deep truths she’s aiming at. On Opposites, a digital-only EP based on singles from her enthusiastically received album Love and Its Opposite, we get three ambient projections of Thorn as digital muse. Berlin-based Visionquest ‘Visionquest (Detroit’s Seth Troxler, Wolf + Lamb’s Ryan Crosson, and Lee Curtiss) breaks “Swimming” down into a smattering of meditative funk; Kompakt microtechies Walls turn “Kentish Town” into a transmission from a wayward satellite; and dubhead Blue Daisy squeezes skittering music box clatter from “Late in the Afternoon.” Hauntingly sublime, it’s a great example of how the right mix can open a singer’s imagination and make even the most familiar voice feel fresh again. When it comes to Tracey Thorn, the more experimental the remix, the better. Out August 21, 2010. Download a free MP3 of “Kentish Town (Walls Remix)“:

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