Swedish act Killing Kind team up with Los Angeles-based dream-pop duo Magic Wands for an excellent remix of “Humanity.” Magic Wands transform the original track — one of many highlights from Killing Kind’s 2025 standout album Being Human — into a darker, rhythmically inclined production with post-punk, darkwave, and dream-pop cohesion. Killing Kind’s own sound draws from the Swedish post-punk sound of the early ’80s, while Magic Wands’ similar embrace of post-punk — within a darker and sometimes dreamier production — makes for an ideal pairing on this fantastic remix.
A title-touting vocal proclamation quickly stirs into pulsating bass and twangy guitar emotion. The vocals maintain a gripping solemnity throughout, reminiscent enjoyably of The Chameleons in its straddling of debonair introspection and palpable emotion, the latter especially apparent in the “humanity!” stirrings past the one-minute turn. There, shimmering guitar elements coexist wonderfully with grimier tones and an arp-friendly synth undercurrent. The doses of blaring, stylish guitars and a sturdy synth-laden undercurrent combine with a fiercely magnetic vocal presence for a stellar re-interpretation of this track.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the entirety of Being Human below; its darkly effective post-punk and synth-forward intertwining made for one of the year’s strongest albums.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
