We were out of the country when the delayed [but worth it] single for OMD’s electric “Kleptocracy” single was finally shipped, owing to manufacturing issues that held it back for a few weeks. Now that we’ve had time to normalize and listen to it, we have to admit that the [sold out in all formats – 7/12/cd] single managed to fly above the somewhat perfunctory sound of the latest OMD album, “Bauhaus Staircase.”

OMD: Kleptocracy – UK – CD-5 [2024]

1. Kleptocracy 3:02
2. Silver Cloud 5:10
3. Kleptocracy [Tiny Magnetic Pets Kompromat Remix] 7:44
4. Kleptocracy [Cephid Remix] 3:54

The basic, three minute album mix is pretty much unbeatable with its hyper-cogent lyric that pulls no upward punches coupled with a driving urgency that’s whipped into a positive frenzy with the sampled “go!” hook having a reverse echo that shoves the song along its corridors of sound. The melody contracts mightily with the lyrics in true OMD fashion as it’s an example of their wistful technopop in a fervent, hopeful mold. Of course, the lyrics couldn’t be more different in tone as they dripped with cold-eyed cynicism; perfectly suitable for the now.

We got an example of one of OMD’s infrequent covers, but this one was a doozy; a retelling of “Silver Cloud,” the debut single from 1975 by La Düsseldorf. It was another wistful melody that probably held great sway on the youthful development of the band as it sounded utterly congruent with the OMD musical ethos. Live bass from Andy McCluskey is always a great look for this band. When he plays the bass guitar on a track it lifts the stature of everything the band does for me. It suggests a commitment that just isn’t there with synth bass. The song simply soars like the namesake of the title. The shimmering synths of the leads in the melody is just the sort of thing that synthesizers were created for because hearing it on conventional instruments would be utterly pedestrian in comparison.

When listening to it now, one can hear the seeds of Bowie’s “Heroes” that were captured in the original. Frankly, this was far too fantastic to have been relegated to B-side status, but being a cover, I sort of get it. In truth, I liked this better than most of the new songs on the last album. Technically, it was available for a few days as part of the deluxe 29 track DL edition of the “Bauhaus Staircase” album from the OMD website; not that they ever sent out an email to me mentioning this at the time!

The Tiny Magnetic Pets remix of the A-side began with pensive choral patches that recalled the gossamer intro to “Party Fears Two” with the synth bass coming in a beat or two behind for an expansion of the song structure even as the tempo was much slower and methodical. Building up in a classic “extended remix” fashion, but newly minor key countermelodies took the song down a darker corridor before the “go!’ sampled hook appeared and proceeded to pick up the pace of the now perky slice of technopop taking major steps toward the original tempo. The tempo vacillated at various points in the mix, with a new Dub coda that was the final third of the song that brought the bass playing up to the spotlight before an angelic choral patch outro returned us to the vibe of the intro.

The breakneck urgency of the original had been swapped out here for something entirely less certain in its drive. The dissipation of the sure-footed energy of the original undermined the confidence with which the song made its essential points. Its essential irony had been swapped with an unnecessary ambiguity. Which made this remix musically interesting; it hit fascinating vibes that were nowhere in the original – usually a great thing for a remix, yet thematically it was fraught with an uncertainty that meant that it was far less effective as a song.

The Cephid remix was another slow, stately mix that stuck to its guns for the only one minute longer remix. Once more, new yearning OMD countermelodies were picked out of the song but to its detriment. One factor I can’t abide was the slathering of even more effects on McCluskey’s vocal when the original version made the vocal the only sticking point to my ears. Perhaps it would have made the remix more interesting to have removed the distancing effects for a more straightforward vocal delivery?

These two remixes were not bad. They are musically interesting, and do not destroy the song, but each ultimately reduced its effectiveness for my ears, and when a song was as powerful as “Kleptocracy,” that’s a disappointment. OMD in recent years have been usually making their own “old school” extended versions on their singles, and they missed the boat here by not making that effort, but with “Kleptocracy” perhaps they were stymied by the notion of taking a perfect 3:00 pop song and re framing it as a possibly unnecessary 12″ version.

-30-