Mirror's Edge remix album a good listen

By Joe Dwyer     11/13/08 6:00pm

To coincide with this week's arrival of the highly anticipated and much-hyped video game Mirror's Edge, EA and EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE) have also released a digital album featuring the game's theme song by Lisa Miskovsky, as well as five different remixes by noted dance and electronica artists Benny Benassi, Junkie XL, Paul Van Dyk, Teddybears and Armand Van Helden. As a whole, the album is a solid effort and definitely worth a listen, but listeners shouldn't expect anything groundbreaking.The title track, "Still Alive" (not to be confused with the hilarious end-credit song by GLaDOS at the end of Portal), is performed by Swedish pop rock star Miskovsky, who enjoys a considerable reputation across the pond in Sweden but is relatively unknown here in the states, although she did help write of "Shape Of My Heart" for the Backstreet Boys in 2000.

The song features largely nonsensical lyrics on top of a backing synthesizer, punctuated every now and then by some heavy drums and a repeating piano riff that manages to work its way into each subsequent remix of the song. In contrast to the rest of the tracks on the album, Miskovsky uses her soaring vocals instead of a heavy bass beat to drive the song.

The real fun in this album comes with the five remixes of Miskovsky's track. Each artist took a bit of the original source material, added a pinch or two from one of the other remixes on the album and then injected personal style to create the rest.

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Benassi draws on his own unique electro house roots to create a remix that keeps a few elements of Miskovsky's original but for the most part strikes out into its own musical territory with heavy bass and distorted synthesizers.

Junkie XL, who has worked with EA before on titles such as Need for Speed: Pro Street and SSX Blur, plays around more with the vocals, chopping them up to the point where they are unintelligible while still managing to achieve a hint of lyrical quality with them. He then adds some acoustic guitar and easy drumbeats underneath the piano riffs for a nice, laid-back track.

Van Dyk's remix showcases the artist's trance and techno background with a hard-hitting drum and bass beat that pushes through the entire track. It keeps all the lyrics and piano parts of the original song intact and mixes in Van Dyk's signature club vibe.

Van Dyk's bass-heavy track is followed by a lighter remix by Teddybears, who use snare and hi-hat to give the song a punchy punk rock feel. This remix is perhaps the most upbeat of the entire album.

Saving the best for last, the album ends with a remix by Van Helden. Taking snatches from all of the other remixes on the album, Van Helden sews them together into a high-energy electronic tapestry that is pure ear gravy.

Still Alive (The Theme From Mirror's Edge) - The Remixes is only available digitally through places like Amazon MP3 and the iTunes Store or your friendly neighborhood torrent site. It sells for just under $10. The review copy I got had only six tracks, but the retail version has 11, featuring additional shortened versions of some songs as well as radio edits. If you're looking for new tunes to add to your jogging playlist or for the next blacklight party in your common room, give this album a whirl. It may not be as fun as actually playing the game, but with music like this you can at least pretend you are.

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