I'm pretty late to this party, but here are a few thoughts.
If we're taking the unreleased tracks off the table for now and focusing on making a slightly more dancey release, I would vote for Beat The Noise as the headline single. It's already built for the dancefloor and the opening hook (horn sample?) is so anthemic as to make the song very effective from the get go. The little bridge around 2:50 also opens up opportunities for extended or radio edits as it provides a subtle break in the track structure.
I am also an advocate for a longer version of Kairos, and am surprised to see other people feel the same way. The track didn't seem to get much mention in album reviews but it's one of my favorites. It's a nice vignette that I'd love to see pushed out to the 3 or 4 minute mark if there's more lyrical material available to work with.
Though perhaps too raw-sounding to work on the dancefloor, I would really love to see a live version of Lightbringer included with the release. I know it's already got its own DM studio version released on the single, but when I saw you guys in Boston, I was struck by how different the track comes across live. Daniel's very aggressive vocals gave a harsher contrast to Eskil's than is present in the original track, and I think fans would like to hear that different interplay. Maybe I just like the shouting, who knows.
Those three are my reasonable suggestions, here are my "wouldn't it be nice if..." ideas; specifically, remix opportunities. There's a bevy of artists that I think could do a great job with remixes, and there's a good history of Covenant remixes from artists outside the core synthpop, ebm and industrial dance spectrums. I especially like the mixes from Terrence Fixmer and Ellen Allien. Some of my ideal remixes of Modern Ruin tracks are:
- The Night. Given that it already has a bit of an open sound to it, I think it could be remixed into a wide variety of tracks. I'd like to hear how more minimal producers might approach it. A remix from Sleeparchive, Echospace, Dominik Eulberg, or Monolake could yield interesting results. Also, given the already de-tuned vocals and enough room to add a melodic fill or two, a further treatment by Fever Ray might yield interesting results.
- Dynamo Clock. This could get turned into a harder number with some harsher drums and slightly edgier synths. I'd like to hear MOTOR have a stab at this track.
- The Beauty and the Grace. Pulling back some of the noisier synths and focusing on the pad swells could make for a more atmospheric, if slightly less epic, mix. Bookah Shade or M.A.N.D.Y might do well here.
- Judge of My Domain. I think a big electro remix could work here. Give The Hacker or the Dahlback brothers a go and see what gets made.
OK, thanks for reading all that, I look forward to the new EP, whatever form it ends up taking.
-Erich