Patriarchy – Forcefully Rearranged [DERO Arcade]

Some projects have the right image, some projects have the right sound. Then, there are bands like Patriarchy that perfectly mix the two expects together obtaining an engaging artistic work.

Patriarchy is one of those projects; the brainchild of model, artist and musician Ashley Huizenga aka Actually Huizenga, it touches topics like sexuality, power and submission, gender roles via immaculately composed and produced synth-pop music with gothic and seedy vibes.

Now the already strong original material from their sophomore full lengths “The Unself” is reworked in the remix album “Forcefully Rearranged”. Names like The Soft Moon, Odinis Odinis, Kris Baha, Xavier Swafford and many others offer their personal interpretation of the tracks here contained.

The Soft Moon renders “Good Boy” as a nervous, militant and very rhythmic electro-punk piece full of obsessive claps and kicks, while Baby Magick plays with throbbing EBM bass-lines and house music keys in her version of “No Touch Torture”.

Houses Of Heaven rework “The Man For You” keeping the dreamy vibes of the voice while converting the pop nature of the tracks into something harder and darker, Kris Baha uses old-school EBM patterns straight from Nitzer-Ebb manual and eerie melodies in the remix of “Lock Jaw”.

The second half sees further reinterpretations: “State Of Undress” becomes a minimal-pop affair thanks to Canadian project Automelodi, while Odinis Odinis underlines the hidden similarities between Patriarchy and Boy Harsher in their nocturnal and crawling rendition of “No Touch Torture”. At the same time, noise, shrilling elements complete the remix giving a personal dimension to it.

Xavier Swafford of 3Teeth’s fame takes “Sex Doll” in his hands and produces a faster dance version with strong 90’s vibes and dark undertones. The result is even better than original version, especially for the songwriting and use of well placed crescendos and pauses.

“Forcefully Rearranged” is a remix album that has more than a reason to exist, actually. No track here is filler and the various interpretations respect the aesthetics and general vibe of Patriarchy. In an age full of gimmicks it would be easy to dismiss the project because of the name, image and track titles. But it would be a big error – behind all of this we find strong music with strong production qualities and an apt songwriting. Give a chance to both the original album and this collection of remixes if you want to further investigate the project.

Release date: October 6^th, 2023.

Text by: Davide Pappalardo.