Magda and NYMA Featuring Miss Kittin “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
The ’80s classic gets a haunting electronic rework from Magda and NYMA, with Miss Kittin on the mike.
The shape-shifting Detroit-raised producer Magda and the Berlin-based tech wizard NYMA have teamed up with the iconic French artist Miss Kittin as part of their Define the Relationship project, boldly re-envisioning Joy Division’s classic anthem “Love Will Tear Us Apart” into a chilling, synth-laden homage to the late Ian Curtis.
Having already taken on Chaka Khan’s “I Feel For You” and LL Cool J’s “Walking With A Panther” as part of the project, Magda and NYMA have proven to be masters at restructuringe classic tracks, in the process breathing new life into them. Their approach to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” finds them substituting synthesizers for guitars—using the haunting vocals of Caronline “Miss Kittin” Hervé to bring new meaning to the song—while still including some of the beloved elements of the original.
The Falling Apart mix is their slow and moody interpretation of the anthem, starting off with Hervé’s bare and husky vocals along, before the familiar riff that backbones the song enters and light percussion appears. A lot is accomplished in the four minutes of the track: the soul and angst of the original is retained, but rather than chugging guitars and Curtis, it’s dark electronic elements and a Hervé’s breathtaking vocal performance that mold the mood of the track. The release also contains three other re-works of the track, including a faster version with Hervé vocals, an erratic Wobbler mix, and a melodic rework that doesn’t stray too far from the original. The entire release is available for free download via Soundcloud.