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Dec 07, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Rebecca Wood

Canadian indie pop singer/songwriter Lou Canon opened her third album Audomatic Body with an invitation to “reimagine the body.” Her newly announced remix album of the same name extends the same offer, remixing several songs from Audomatic Body and reframing them in a new light. Lou Canon paired with musicians from across the genre landscape, including Graham Walsh of Holy Fuck, Lido Pimienta, Zoon, and Maximilian Turnbull of Badge Epoch and U.S. Girls. These collaborations are all gathered on Reimagine the Body, due out January 26th via Paper Bag Records.

Canon says of the LP, “Audomatic Body’s very first words are ‘reimagine the body.’ These remixes are born from that album. Reimagine the body, reimagine the body… the mantra looped in my sanity on rerun. With no tangible way to bring the original album to life, what with restrictions on our every movement, and venues closed for business, I soon became fixated on how Audomatic Body’s songs might shift and breathe and germinate like they very often do when you take them on the road — into different rooms, in front of different faces, night after night. When we work on a song it constantly mutates from conception to birth. And yet we present the recording to the world in just one way, the last way. But why does there have to be a last way? I was in search for more of a continuum. So I entrusted these songs into the hands of many brilliant artists. Some were dear friends, some I had never met but admired from a distance. And oh my, it was nail-biting excitement to witness their work. Some were remixing for the very first time. It brought about a raw, most genuine magic, wrapped in a new delicate skin with just enough familiar and just enough exotic.”

Alongside the announcement, Canon has also shared the LP’s first single, a remix of “Invisible Desire” courtesy of Badge Epoch, premiering with Under the Radar.

With his remix of “Invisible Desire,” Badge Epoch reimagines the floating romantic beauty of the original into a piece that feels darker and more cryptic. It opens with cinematic flair before quietly beckoning the listener deeper into its dreamy embrace. Alluring synth melodies enlace with Canon’s vocals for an irresistible dark enchantment, reframing the track’s mood without sacrificing any of its fundamental beauty.

Speaking on “Invisible Desire,” Lou writes: “I’m a big fan of all the projects that Maximilian Turnbull dips his brain and adept hands into. From Slim Twig to Darlene Shrugg to backing his partner in U.S. Girls to Badge Époque Ensemble. He always has my full attention. Listening to Époque can get me lost on the way to my neighbourhood cornershop. He carries my song ‘Invisible Desire’ into a dark, intimate space that feels much like a home away from home, while somehow remaining completely mysterious.”

Check out the song and video here, directed by John Smith / Strange Process. You can also read our brief Q&A with Lou Canon on the remix LP below. Reimagine the Body is out January 26th Via Paper Bag Records.

1. What made you choose this remix as the LP’s first single?

This remix is the “Pssst. Hey you. Come. Enter…” — a pull you in sort of song. Oh boy, Max knocked this one out of the park.

2. When mapping out this LP, did you have an idea of who you wanted to work with on specific tracks? Additionally, before everything came together, did you have any ideas already fleshed out regarding the remixes, or did you give each collaborator total freedom?

I had a dream list of sorts of who I wanted to work with. I chose some brilliant musical brains that weren’t necessarily your typical bread and butter type of remixers. Some were trying it for the first time. That part was thrilling. It really felt like the right pairing for Lou Canon. I didn’t give any rigid guidelines. I wanted to see these songs take new shape when they landed in the hands of artists I admire. They each chose a song with very little back and forth between us. All trust, total freedom.

3. How did you feel revisiting material that you released over a year ago via this LP? Was it nostalgic in any way, or do these songs feel almost as if they’re totally separate entities, as if they’re given new life in this format?

I didn’t get the chance to tour that LP. So I wanted to give it a place to evolve in a completely different way. The remixes are the perfect marriage of both. These songs were reborn into a new world. They live and breathe in their very own galaxy. With just the right touch of familiarity.