It hit the webwaves like a virus, making its rounds on blogs and creeping into tweets like an excited facial twitch. “In Ruins” is the dystopian feel-good dance track for spring, and signals good things to come on Fol Chen’s sophomore release, Part II: The New December, out early July. Kárin Tatoyan takes vocal lead on “In Ruins” – whose playful escapism recalls Fol Chen’s earlier hit, “Cable TV” – as an Eastern melody rings out from a vintage Madonna-ish mélange of cutup funk, fuzz bass and tinkling ivories. The song speaks to a bleak landscape, a post-apocalyptic urban warfare, yet our protagonist finds a hope in the beauty of a lover as their face is illuminated by siren lights.

The virus has now mutated into remixes and alternate versions by drum-n-tape newcomer Baths, the woozy chant-funk of Keepaway, the ghostwhisperings of Kárin Tatoyan and the sunken treasure hunter and Fol Chen member Julian Wass. These new strains have been collected, identified and neatly displayed for further study. This collection proves that In Ruins proves to be sexy, deadly, and contagious as ever.

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