Björk, Shygirl, Sega Bodega – Ovule (Sega Bodega Remix)

Seeing the names Björk, Shygirl, and Sega Bodega on a single track credit is the gift we didn’t know we needed. The queen of avant-garde baroque pop embracing the new vanguard of artists carrying her pioneering efforts into the future is a breath of fresh air, and with the Bodega led remix of Fossora track Ovule, she does just that.

The success of this remix lies in both its reverence for and departure from its source material. Bodega is a natural fit for the track, which in original form assumes a bass clarinet driven dembow beat. He sort of extrapolates on this, arriving at a pulsing yet mellow trip-hop groove that’s most reminiscent of 90’s Björk circa Post. The languid smoothness works a charm alongside a phrase sung by Björk just once on the original that Bodega refashions into a potent hook: “carries our digital selves, embracing and kissing.” This notion of the ‘digital self’ informs the direction of Shygirl on this remix, who astonishingly commands an already loaded space. Even beneath a veil of vocoder, she’s mesmerising, her robotised melodies in contrast to the gravel of Björk’s natural timbre, the past and future meeting on the gently swaying currents of bodega’s beats. These beats are dumbfoundingly simple at that, and there’s a sense of restraint in Bodega’s approach that allows for soul to transcend simplicity.