After years of kids trying every variation on every established formula, applying vocals to any sort of dance music has become quite the cliché minefield. On one hand, a vocalist with too refined a set of pipes runs the risk of encroaching on diva or “deep sexy house” territory which, pardon me for saying, is technically gayer than two men having anal sex in a Mazda Miata. On the other hand, the rebellion of producers with flat voices singing because they can is about as refreshing as a joke about two men having sex in a Mazda Miata. I suppose there’s always a vocal option with the black guy saying random things about house music, but even that’s at the tail-end of a short-lived revival.

By contrast, Glaswegian minimal techno producer Alex Smoke manages to walk through this rainstorm without getting wet, offering poetically obtuse vocals not dissimilar in spirit to pieces from The Knife or Fever Ray. He has also proven to be good fodder for remixers, a fact which I will now prove beyond a reasonable doubt:

The occasionally outstanding Henrik Schwarz furnishes the track with his usual freeform percussion, which plays well off Smoke’s compelling ode to ambiguity.

Alex Smoke – Don’t See the Point (Henrik Schwarz Remix) 6:45 mins/ 320 kbps/ 15.4MB

Seatown’s own Lusine applies a battery of soft synths under the pitch-perfect vocal of the original.

Alex Smoke – Make My Day (Lusine Mix) 4:53 mins/ 320 kbps/ 7.58MB