Galantis is putting his own spin on some of his favorite songs. The Swedish producer, born Christian “Bloodshy” Karlsson, drops The Devil’s Tax Return: Volume 1 today via Ninja Tune’s Counter Records imprint, a six-track collection of reworks built from songs that shaped him long before Galantis existed as a project.
Leading the release is a reimagining of The Killers’ ‘When You Were Young,’ the 2006 arena-rock staple that Karlsson has apparently been sitting with for two decades. Rather than a straight remix, he loops the parts of the song he loves most and layers in garage-indebted bass and drums, keeping the original’s widescreen melody intact while giving it a club-ready pulse.
“It’s wild to think it’s been 20 years since I first heard this tune. I’ve always been obsessed with this big arena melody and how The Killers lace that gritty Springsteen DNA into an indie masterpiece,” Karlsson said. “I wanted to celebrate this by looping my favorite parts while injecting it with a bit of garage-born bass and beat.”
The EP pulls from a pool of nearly 100 songs Karlsson considered during the writing process, eventually narrowing it down to six. Alongside ‘When You Were Young,’ the tracklist includes a rework of Feist’s ‘1234,’ a take on Frankie Valli’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,’ a stripped-down version of José González’s ‘Stay Alive,’ a reinterpretation of Paleface ft. Kyla’s UK bassline cut ‘Do You Mind,’ and a version of The War on Drugs’ ‘Red Eyes.’
“I’d been cooking The Devil’s Tax Return for years before it really took shape,” Karlsson explained. “The biggest challenge was reworking someone else’s work. I’m a songwriter and producer, and I’d never really done this before. It’s difficult because you either have to beat the original or find a completely new angle that brings something to the song you haven’t heard before.”
From Bloodshy to Billions Club
Karlsson’s production résumé runs deep. Under the Bloodshy name, he co-wrote and produced Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic,’ which won a GRAMMY for Best Dance Recording. He also co-founded Miike Snow, the indie-dance trio behind platinum singles ‘Animal’ and ‘Genghis Khan.’
As Galantis, he’s landed two tracks in Spotify’s Billions Club — ‘Runaway (U & I)’ and ‘No Money’ — and has racked up collaborations with Dolly Parton and David Guetta. The full tracklist for The Devil’s Tax Return: Volume 1 is streaming now.
