For many of us, French-Cuban sister duo Ibeyi was a revelation this year. Their eponymous debut album oozed with soul and percussive harmony. But their latest move is one that definitely caught us by surprise. They paired up with recent Grammy-nominated producer Mark Ronson for a remix of their song “Stranger/Lover,” and it actually feels like a collaboration that was built from scratch. That may be the reason why they called it a re-fix instead.
While the original version was moody and subtly sensuous, the remix is just a playful, funky blast. The Mark Ronson re-fix is a complete overhaul that reworks all of the instrumentation and only keeps the vocals intact. The funkified version includes huge gospel-inspired backing vocals and a guitar solo that would make Prince proud. For a more up-to-date touch, Ronson added vocal synths and sporadic trap-like hi-hats for an ultimately unbelievable transformation.
Ibeyi is set to perform at the 2016 edition of Vive Latino.