Remixes can make for odd partners sometimes, and this is definitely one of those times. As previously reported, goth grinders Cold Cave have remixed "I Didn't See It Coming", the chipper opening track from Belle and Sebastian's recent album Write About Love, and the result is streaming above, via Stereogum. The track is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a Cold Cave remix of Belle and Sebastian-- a dark and chilly but still catchy and optimistic synthpop track that lasts nearly seven minutes.The remix will appear on Belle and Sebastian's 12" single for "Come On Sister", which is out July 26 in the U.S. via Matador and July 18 via Rough Trade internationally. The single is vinyl-only, with no digital release planned, and Cold Cave's remix will appear alongside a Richard X remix of "I Didn't See It Coming", a Tony Doogan remix of "Come On Sister", and the unremixed Belle and Sebastian song "Blue Eyes of a Millionaire", which appeared as a bonus track on some versions of Write About Love.

In a press release, Cold Cave leader Wes Eisold talks a bit about his history with Belle and Sebastian. Here's what he has to say:

"In 1998 I lived on a street called the Eastern Promenade in Portland, Maine. A past-time of mine was walking the sea lined street listening to If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy With the Arab Strap. Belle was new and exciting and it felt as if articulation, literation and genuine honesty had made a much needed return that hadn't existed since the Smiths. Elegant and seedy. I missed their first Boston show but it was instantly bootlegged. I bought a copy shortly after at Mystery Train from Peter Prescott. It's still the very small personal triumphs that make everything worth it, and I'm happy that years later I got to release records on the same label as Belle and Burma. I wanted the remix to take me back to Boston days of late 90s/early 2000's. Gibby's Start, the Pill or the Manray. It works for me then and now. Hope you enjoy."

Also, Eisold recently posted a mix that he made for a friend on the Cold Cave Tumblr. He describes it as "songs for the summer indoors against the exhaustion of traffic outside." The mix features tracks from Billy Bragg, Arthur Russell, the Go-Betweens, Love and Rockets, and others. Listen to it here.