(Single from compilation album, "Until Now")
Swedish House Mafia have announced, much to the despair of their huge, and implicitly loyal fan-base, their indefinite hiatus, active as of the conclusion of their current world tour. Tied in with this was the release of their second album,"Until Now", more a compilation of singles, with "Don't You Worry Child" chosen as the final release destined for UK chart success. The single has been received just as the band hoped, and, debuting at #1, its worth asking, 'are we going to miss SHM, is this a song that stands up in its own right, and is it a decent farewell track, even if it is, just for now?'
The charts are plagued by bog-standard electro mixes labelled as 'songs'. They're just fragments and excerpts of extortionately lengthy dance floor mixes which probably exceed hours in length. Well, that's at least how they sound...
Swedish House Mafia, however, have always been pretty good at what they do. Call it 'the best of a bad bunch' if you will, but some of their songs weren't that bad. "Greyhound" was (in its shortened 4 minute form) a really good electro track. "Save The World", bar Tinie Tempah's atrocious performance (well, at least he's consistent), was OK as well, but its very strange; these songs seem more bland and lifeless when there's a vocal. At least with an instrumental track, the listener can substitute something decent from their imagination and filter it over the top of the music; vocals on techno tracks, like this one, are just so monotone, so pointless, so without-skill, and so very, very, desperately dull.
In this respect, "Don;t You Worry Child" fills the criteria of 'average dance song'. Its all just remixes of the same song which has been churned back out, again and again since about 1993. Its a very boring track with nothing you haven't heard before. Songs like "Greyhound" had a unique quality - you could listen to them, and know what track they were from the third second in, because they were so distinctive and creatively differentiated from the rest of the electronic mainstream. In other ways its a decent electro track, but by the time you hear it, you will probably be the same (if not, more than) weathered by this genre, that the talent is all but absent, and your eyes just glaze over in boredom. You might even let out a yawn.
However, these epic moments of electronic individuality and difference, despite having occurred, have been somewhat rare for SHM, who, have consistently released 'samey songs'. You might just find yourself wondering if the songs you liked were any good, or whether they just came along at 'the right time' commercially...
"Don't You Worry Child" has (indefinitely) brought everything to a close, in much the way it was destined to be; it would be critically disappointing if the band had gotten really good towards the end, and gone out with a bang. To shut up shop with another rehash works best for the band's reputation; the brain-dead chart audience are kept happy by almost exactly the same song as before, and the rest of us can have peace of mind over tracks like "Greyhound". Instead of prompting the question, 'where SHM potentially really good?', you can now find the answer in this band's final single - 'no. They were just occasionally lucky to chart in a dull week'.
★★★
Versions of “Don't You Worry Child”
Compilation Album/Single Edit - 3:32
Original Mix - 6:43
Acoustic Version - 4:13
Tom Staar & Kryder Remix - 6:20
Promise Land Remix - 5:45
Joris Voorn Remix - 7:03