Cheap attempt at prolonging a moment of fame.

The Shadow of the Guest, the latest release from Blonde Redhead, the rock trio consisting of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace, is conceptually smart (via Spotify). Through it, the group claims to offer a fresh lens on their acclaimed 2023 album Sit Down for Dinner, releasing choral, ASMR and even mariachi-influenced versions of “Before,” “Rest of Her Life” and “Via Salona” and, of course, the viral “For the Damaged Coda” (via Bandcamp). Capitalizing on the resurgence in their popularity while remaining curious with their own work is a laudable, well-thought out endeavor in theory, but in practice, any genius is cheapened by the lazy, boring reworkings created for the project. 

It is always wonderful when artists take to their former creations with a fresh set of eyes and new skills, influences, life experience and relationships under their belt. For attempting that, Blonde Redhead deserves praise. Unfortunately, that attempt was not very well done. Take, for example, the choral versions of “Rest of Her Life,” “Before,” “Via Savona” and “Coda,” which are so remarkably similar to their original counterparts save for a few background harmonies and rounds that they don’t seem worth the effort. “Via Savona (Choir Version)” is the most egregious culprit of this with the Brooklyn Youth Choir’s vocal accompaniment being easily ignorable. It is not a question that the time and the talents of the Brooklyn Youth Choir were underutilized; could the new songs not have been modified structurally or production wise to offer new opportunities for their interaction? Were there no solos or duets that could have been layered to add texture? Why bring in a collaborator at all without genuinely attempting to incorporate them into a work? The ASMR version songs are not much better; all that needs to be said is throwing jungle sleep sounds into the background of a track does not make it ASMR (cough, cough “Good Morning Sunshine”). “Oda a Coda,” a lush, trumpet heavy instrumental with lovely Spanish flair, is the only stand-out track but is hindered by its brevity (ironically, it is the only track on the album that should not have been short). Simply put, the vast majority of the songs on The Shadow of the Guest don’t seem to have been made with genuine effort or any interest in using any growth and change that has occurred in the past two years to create something new with roots in the past; they feel like cheap attempts at prolonging a minute of fame. 

Though more artists should revisit their former works, The Shadow of the Guest makes the case for what not to do: make shallow, uninspired attempts at reimagining, bring on featuring artists while refusing their integration, let temporary notoriety lead you to make poor work and, above all, make the best song barely longer than 2 minutes.