WHOOP-Szo, have announced their forthcoming EP of remixes of their current release Warrior Down, featuring re-works by Zoon, DOOMSQUAD, Ice Cream, AG47 (nêhiyawak), and more. A Listening Party of the EP hosted by Exclaim! will take place June 4.

“Warrior Down was a record that was a long time coming. At times it felt like nobody would touch the finished album,” says Adam Sturgeon. “‘It’s too heavy’ from the indies and ‘It’s not heavy enough’ from the metalheads. We’ve never really played into either of those narratives and so when the pandemic hit we decided to switch gears entirely. We had already been working and reworking a version of our song ‘Cut Your Hair’ and were craving some interaction from our space of self-quarantine after cancelling well over 50 shows. We decided to reach out to contemporaries who also do their ‘own thing’ in the electronic world and before we knew it we had an EP’s worth of Warrior Down alterations. Each song provides a new take on songs from Warrior Down, but also covers a wide range of electronic subgenres in the process.”

Quote on the remix from Daniel from Zoon on “Cut You Hair:”

I was so honoured when Adam asked if I’d collaborate with him. I remember the first time hearing ‘Cut Your Hair’, it was on the CBC show ‘Q’ and Adam played solo, and there was so much emotion during his performance and I immediately connected with the story. ‘Cut Your Hair’ is the first contemporary song I’ve heard that deals with residential schools. Like Adam’s grandfather, my grandfather, father, aunt and uncle, all attended these schools for many years. I found this song to be very emotional and I really wanted to capture that on my remix. I ended up isolating Adams vocals and built a wall of sound around it. I swapped bits of the guitar for sound loops to follow the verses and added in piccolos and strings at the end to symbolize a sort of resolution.

100% of sales from the EP will be donated to LIFE*SPIN, a London, ON based charity. The money will be directed towards their community food box program, which was launched in response to COVID-19. Many people depend on food banks, breakfast programs, and other initiatives to feed themselves and their families, and when these suddenly closed due to COVID regulations, there was an increase in food insecurity. So, LIFE*SPIN partnered with a couple other local organizations to deliver free food boxes, supporting fixed income families, seniors, and expectant mothers with direct access to food while supporting the livelihood of local businesses.

Track List

1 Zoon – Cut Your Hair
2 The Noisy Mountain
3 Jesney – Amaruq
4 Ice Cream – 6.1/6.2
5 AG47 – Amaruq
6 DOOMSQUAD – Amaruq
7 Zachary Gray – Cut Your Hair