Veröffentlicht
Apr 1, 2009
- "Hey You Guys" is a stirring electro-rock anti-anthem: a rallying cry like any other, except that in one gesture it marks the dispersal of the very forces it calls to gather. Its evocations of wild-night camaraderie have a fraternal fist-pump intensity to them, but before you can throw your hands in the air, you can't help but notice how empty they are. The line "Hey You Guys" is of course a call-out to friends, but not only to those over at the bar while you're dancing, it's as well addressed to the ones who have long since receded into the shadows, and taken all those priceless nights with them. Spare and icy post-punk electronics hold sway, a sort of laptop Joy Division vibe, supporting a catchy and wistful melody. The lyrics cast a bittersweet elegy, cataloging the rush of nocturnal passions, club-life allure, above all, the way that good friends and good times can coincide in a way that makes a night out seem more than a night out, as if it suddenly bears the glow of some fleeting moment marked by fate: "this is it, this is us, here we go.."
Besides Circlesquare's original, the main attraction on the single is The Juan Maclean's remix, which transforms the tune into a long-form acid-house monster, replete with the sort of hard-rock drum flourishes that so often lend the Maclean's remixes their loose, organic force. The track is a total home-run burner and a merciless overhaul, re-routing the emotional trajectory, bringing things back into the club after Circlesquare had tried to leave it hours ago, cranking the system once more as if to drown out the specters of melancholia that float freely across the original. Taken together the two tracks form an amazing pair: pre-dawn desolation meets peak-time meltdown. In case you've still got an appetite, there's two other forms of the mix here: an instrumental version and a half-length edit, which seem a bit functionally appended. Mickey Moonlight turns in a remix as well, adding bouncy, lightly funky percussion, occupying a palatable middle ground between the extreme worlds of the two other versions. One wonders if the release wouldn't be more succinct pared down to the essentials.
Tracklist 1. Hey You Guys (The Juan MacLean Remix)
2. Hey You Guys (Mickey Moonlight Remix)
3. Hey You Guys (The Juan MacLean Instrumental)
4. Hey You Guys (Original Version)