Skin - Girl: Come Out FLAC

The album Blood, Women, Roses by Skin, the side-project of Swans, appeared in 1987. Various mixes of the dance track ‘Come Out’ were released on vinyl 7” single and 12” extended play. Composing credits for the song are shared by Michael Gira and Jarboe who performs the vocals and plays the keyboards and piano.

Side A of the 12” has the Rico Conning remix titled ‘Girl: Come Out’. Side B has ‘Girl: Come Out Dub,’ remixed by Gira and Conning, as well as ‘The Man I Love (Live version)’, which has more warmth than the studio version. The Dub version does not appear on the 7”.

The umbrella genre of the Rico Conning remix would today be called EDM, and more specifically it would be considered a variant within the electro-ambient-industrial continuum. The fact that the last minute of its six minutes’ duration has Jarboe rapping, ought not to complicate matters.

The Dub version, extending to six and a half minutes, has a faster tempo than the Rico Conning remix, is equipped with all the standard dub features like echo, delay and reverb, and also accommodates the rap.

The rap alone is reason enough to get this startling single. In the first place because neither Skin, nor Swans nor Jarboe is associated with a sense of humour (OK besides ‘Volcano’ on the album Soundtracks for the Blind), and in view of the particularly funereal quality of the Blood, Women, Roses album.

In the second place because the rap is so hilarious in its lyrics and execution. It’s not the caustic commentary alone but the fact that it’s a female vocal and furthermore the tone in which it is rapped, that make it so side-splitting.

All of the ‘(Girl) Come Out’ mixes plus ‘The Man I Love (Live version)’ were released on Jarboe’s 2005 album A Mystery of Faith, including a fourth titled ‘Come Out (Vocal Dub).’

So to wrap up, the four versions are (a) the album track ‘Come Out; (b) the Rico Conning remix ‘Girl: Come Out’ (c) the ‘Girl: Come Out Dub,’ remixed by Gira and Conning (d) ‘Come Out (Vocal Dub).’