A year after the release of ICON (which came in at number 4 in the Cold War Night Life Top 25 of 2025) EMMON has handed the album over to a global network of remixers. ICONMIXED repeats the approach taken when RECON was transformed into RECONMIXED by artists like Ultra Sunn and Tobias Bernstrup.
ICON was already a hard-edged record. Jimmy Monell‘s production carried the feel of Depeche Mode’s Some Great Reward into the present with industrial tooling and a strong pop spine – “Relics” was positively thunderous. Nine of the songs from the album come back here in new clothes. Only the album opener, “Neon Brown,” stays at home. The remixers come from North America, Europe, and the UK, and the styles range from shoegaze to techno. Taken track-by-track, the full scope of the project comes into view.
Shades of Blue (Rhys Fulber Remix)
Vancouver-born Rhys Fulber (Front Line Assembly, Delerium) takes pole position. He opens the album with a slow-growing version of “Shades of Blue.” Fulber spends the first minute raising the track from a low murmur, and the full weight does not land until just past the one-minute mark.
This is the darkest-sounding version on the record, with long sustained synth tones taking over. At 5:42, it runs well over a minute longer than the original album cut, and it closes on a tail of pads after the beat has gone; like the hum left in a room once the amplifiers are switched off.
Nylén has described “Shades of Blue” as a homage to the electronic music in her DNA, inspired by late-80s and early-90s Depeche Mode, with a lyric about reaching someone lost in despair. Fulber’s version leans into its emotional roots.
Speak to Me (SIIE Remix)
SIIE build in blocks. The Swiss-German duo cut “Speak to Me” into sections with drop-outs and filtered passages; building tension and teasing, as if the track is being heard through the wall of the club. Emma Nylén’s lyric is a mantra against the beauty standards fed through social media – the screen as the mirror. SIIE’s editing suits a song about glancing at a reflection and looking away.
Speak to Me (The Foreign Resort Remix)
The same song is picked up by the Danish band, The Foreign Resort, who take it into a different place and a different decade. Guitars and live drums replace the machines, and the guitar effects are piled so thick that the track barely has a quiet moment. This version could have been taken from The Batcave, played by Specimen. The band have explained their approach plainly: “What do you do when the song you’re remixing already sounds amazing? You change it from electronic to analogue and add layers of reverb and distortion! And of course a Slayer-inspired guitar solo.”
DARK (Randolph & Mortimer Remix)
Randolph & Mortimer is the Sheffield artist, Sam Evans. He gives “DARK” a sharper edge; pushing the energy up into clipped percussion and bright, ticking synth patterns. It has the most top-end brightness of anything on the album, like a strip light flickering in a stairwell. Two minutes in, the track falls into a short dark break and a rising sweep pulls it back up. Near the end a filter closes over it.
“DARK” first appeared on the 2024 EP XCEPTION and became a live staple before it joined ICON. Nylén describes it as a song about vampirism, or an obsession with a partner that goes too far.
DARK (IDORU Remix)
IDORU opens “DARK” with the treble rolled off; a muffled acid groove, like music from a car parked outside the venue, takes centre stage. Then Nylén’s vocals arrive, accompanied by occasional touches of percussion. The filter opens up with flashes of biting synths that tear through the speakers, as well as rolling crashes and reverb-drenched knocks. The American producer restructures the track as a square-wave techno treat.
Slow Running (DSTR Extended Remix)
On ICON, “Slow Running” was the cool-down track: the last song written for the album. The music and lyrics were put together in a single evening to complete the set. The original is sparse; built from long-held notes. Daniel Myer (DSTR, Covenant, Haujobb) transforms it with dense, clattering programming, many times busier than the album version.
Slow Running (Bestial Mouths Remix)
Bestial Mouths go another way and keep the song’s slow heart. The effect is like walking home through fog where every streetlight sports a halo with the echoes of the club still in your ears.
Blood on the Ceiling (Die Verletzt Remix)
The ICON version of “Blood on the Ceiling” was itself a remake of a track Nylén made with Majestoluxe; retooled for the dancefloor, with a lyric drawn from a serial killer who kept trophies from his victims. London-based Die Verletzt keep the tempo and the minor key, then strip away much of the bass weight. The result is lighter and wirier; closer to early-80s electronic post-punk.
Relics (Agent Side Grinder Remix)
EMMON has a close working relationship with Agent Side Grinder. On ICON, “Relics” features Agent Side Grinder’s Emanuel Åström. His bandmate, Johan Lange, now returns the favour. He describes the change: “I took the EBM-driven original and pushed it in a more ’90s house direction, with LinnDrum, a Euro disco riff and plenty of acid basslines.” It is the most drum-led track on the album by a distance. This version moves the faders and dials up the resonance – a bedazzled remix with acid bites for emphasis.
Relics (Kris Baha Remix)
Kris Baha takes the same song in a slightly different direction. The Australian-raised, Berlin-based producer brings Kraftwerkian blips and an urgent club-friendly rhythm. Nylén’s voice appears to remind us whose song this is; but Baha is happy to let his instincts take the track into another realm.
Decisions (.endmap Remix)
“Decisions” was one of the first songs written for ICON. Its lyric follows a perfectionist who takes every chance to climb but cannot make the decisions that count. The .endmap treatment takes it into a dirtier, more industrial place.
Discocisions by Beborn Beton
The Beborn Beton rework of “Decisions” is so immersed in disco lushness that they changed the name of the song. It is the longest track on the album and one of the brightest, with a steady glitter across six minutes. It holds the same key as the original. The veteran German band takes the song’s pop chorus – the one Nylén said “breaks rocks” – and gives it room to stretch out.
Decisions (Zweite Jugend Remix)
The third rework of “Decisions” carries the heaviest low end on the album; darker in tone than the original. It takes an EBM turn here with deliciously analogue sounds.
Cold Within (aux animaux Remix)
“Cold Within” began as a studio experiment that turned into a song, with a lyric about affection forced on someone, emotionally and physically. Aux animaux distils it until it resembles breath condensing on a cold window. Aux animaux has been out on tour with IAMX but found time to recreate the track with an insistent and dynamic pulse.
No Mans Land (Industrial Relaxation by XOTOX)
Nylén wrote “No Mans Land” as conflicts escalated around the world, a snapshot from inside a civilian attack and its aftermath. XOTOX provide a remix that changes the temperature but does not take away the contemplative feeling of Nylén’s vocal.
ICONMIXED is out now on Icons Creating Evil Art via Bandcamp. EMMON plays Hard Beat in Halle on 21 November 2026 and Darkstorm Festival in Chemnitz on 25 December 2026. In January 2027, she joins the Planet Myer Day 22 bill in Leipzig.