Dark Synth Artists Vexagon and XOR Team Up for Remixes of “Path” and “Love is Surrender”

In a collaboration that at first glance sounds like a Konami arcade shooter circa 1987, Dark electronic artists XOR and Vexagon have teamed up for a compelling split EP, Path of Surrender. This collaborative project features each artist reimagining the other’s tracks, infusing them with fresh layers and perspectives. The result is a dynamic exchange of styles that enhances and transforms their established sounds.

Vexagon’s reimagining of Path brings a fresh groove to the retro dancefloor sound. “The title is a double entendre,” the artist says. “A former friend once replied ‘I have no empathy’ when trying to work through the ways they treated people. So, in part, the title comes from the etymology ‘pathos’–feeling–and the way it has retained usage in empathy or sociopath. But then there’s the unrelated word path as in this is the path you have chosen in life.”

“Matthew and I are both bass players,” Vexagon adds. “My bass amp was blessed by his playing through it once at a Secret Shame show in Chattanooga. The sonic palette and atmosphere in Path spoke to me the first time I heard it, with morose layers of mood and rhythm that felt kindred to my sensibilities. I wanted to bring to the forefront the emotional impact the song had on me and where it took me mentally.”

XOR’s remix of Love Is Surrender brings a sense of bleak melancholy to the original.

“This song was inspired by The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, which the opening sample is taken from,” says Vexagon. “The concept is based in the necessity of disengaging one’s coping mechanisms and lowering defenses in order to be truly known, and the acceptance of a lack of control for the sake of another.”

“It takes me a while to know what to do with a remix, especially if there are stylistic similarities and overlapping influences between XOR and the artist I’m remixing,” admits XOR. “After a few months of attempts, I had a version of Love is Surrender that felt fine, but didn’t feel like its own song…Then, I got home from a tour I had to cancel part of the way through and was feeling depressed and lost. Not knowing what to do with myself or the newfound time, I started the remix from scratch and nearly finished it in an afternoon. Nothing about it resembled my initial attempt. Something about how I was feeling at the time allowed me to capture the underlying bleakness I’d missed before.I also sang a backing harmony in the final chorus. It isn’t something I’d done before on someone else’s song, and I don’t know if I would again, but it felt necessary.”

Vexagon emerged in 2018 as Briar Moth’s musical outlet, born from their experiences in Augusta, GA. As an undiagnosed autistic queer individual in the Southeast, Moth struggled with a sense of alienation and discomfort. Through Vexagon, Moth seeks to explore and affirm their identity, focusing on internal acceptance rather than external validation. This project serves as a personal sanctuary, where self-discovery takes precedence over societal approval.

XOR, steered by Matthew of Secret Shame fame, pushes electronic music into uncharted territories with a blend of haunting melodies, pulsating rhythms, and alluring hooks. The project fluctuates effortlessly between ambient soundscapes, darkwave, and synthpop, where the conventional blurs into the mysterious. Over the past decade, Matthew has experimented under various aliases, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that he delivered his debut full-length electropop album. In 2023, XOR dropped the EP beyond the tall trees somewhere.

Follow Vexagon:

• Bandcamp
• Instagram
• Spotify

Follow XOR:

• Soundcloud
  
• YouTube
• Bandcamp
• Spotify
• Instagram