St. South celebrates 50m Streams With “Slacks (Remixes) EP”; Featuring FVNERAL, mikk, BIGJOY, Infinitefreefall, and Urban Dweller

Australian indie-electronic artist St. South (Olivia Gavranich, she/they) is celebrating a major milestone – over 50 million streams of her breakout single “Slacks” – with the release of Slacks (Remixes), a five-track EP featuring reworks from the finalists of her global remix competition. Out today, the project showcases the creativity, community, and joy of hearing a song reimagined across genres, from chillwave and indie pop, to lofi-electronic and emotive house. Listen to the EP [HERE].

Leading the EP is the competition’s winning entry, Eora/Sydney-based indie-rock group FVNERAL’s remix of “Slacks” – an atmospheric and emotionally charged electronic rework that captured the hearts of both fans and judges.

St. South shares: “I audibly gasped when I first heard this entry (and now winning track) from FVNERAL. I find it hard to fully express how this version makes me feel. I wrote ‘Slacks’ in 2012, and this genre is the type of music I was heavily listening to at that time. It reminded me instantly of ‘Ghosting’ by Freelance Whales – one of my core favourites from my early twenties. If remixes are about breathing life into an old song, then FVNERAL’s remix is breathing afterlife, somehow. The plucked guitar and soft, swirling textures feel nostalgic, pulling me back to the early 2000s era of Angus & Julia Stone, Daughter, Lisa Mitchell etc. It’s beautiful, and I really hope I get to sing it with them one day.”

FVNERAL adds: “The whole philosophy of FVNERAL is about finding community and creating moments of catharsis by making art with your friends. Although we already knew that it was such a gorgeous song, being able to pull it apart and peel back each layer gave us an opportunity to connect with ‘Slacks’ in a pretty profound way. By stripping away almost all of Liv’s incredible production, the three of us were able to imagine a brand new sonic world around the main vocal. The vocal – both lyrically and the performance itself – has such a yearning, so all the production we added was aimed at emphasising it, starting with the finger-picked acoustic part. We also wanted to shape the production to build tension all the way until it gets released when everything opens up after ‘you’re walking a fine, fine line,’ which felt genuinely cathartic when it all finally clicked into place.”

WATCH & SHARE: SLACKS (REMIXES) EP
https://stsouth.ffm.to/slacks_remixes

Alongside FVNERAL’s winning entry, the Slacks (Remixes) EP features four additional reworks from the competition’s finalists, each bringing their own unique sonic perspective while staying true to the song’s heartfelt core. Australian indie pop artist and producer Mikk delivers lush, chillwave textures perfect for late-night listening, while LA based producer and songwriter BIGJOY injects the track with an infectious, bright indie-pop energy. South Carolina experimental pop project Infinitefreefall’s reimagines “Slacks” as a lofi-electronic dreamscape built from warm, textural layers, and Perth producer Urban Dweller’s emotive house rendition is crafted for deep listening sessions.

BIGJOY shares: “It was such a joy to remix ‘Slacks’. We love a sad dancefloor moment. The song is so packed with emotion and wistfulness that I knew the remix had to honour that sort of soft sadness. I started off with some chords that gave me a gentle gut punch. At the same time, I wanted to make it danceable. So, I focused a lot on getting the drums and bass to drive the remix energetically and leaned into the deep angst of the lyrics.“

Mikk shares: “I really enjoyed making this remix, I think sad house music is one of the most interesting and accessible genres at the moment, so when the opportunity to remix ‘Slacks’ came up I was absolutely stoked to give it a go. I knew I wanted to get some kind of Fred Again or Tourist sound, so that started off the process quite easily and St. South’s effortlessly beautiful vocals fit in perfectly with what I wanted to achieve. What a fun time. I’m so glad I got to be a part of such an insane milestone.”

Infinitefreefall shares: “My remix is very much cut from the same cloth as my remix of their track “Get Good” ten years ago. Both featuring zero elements of the original instrumentals, and both peaking with frenetic vocal chops, I wanted to provide a trip-hop counterpoint to the buttery-smooth original. I really took to the background vocals that are hiding in the original take, so I’ve foregrounded them as an opening hook for the song, while peppering in my own airy synths for even more melodies. In the original, the revelatory breakup emotions swell against painterly electric keys, allowing the words to take centre stage. Here, their words are recontextualised in an electronic mosaic that runs the gamut from chill to glitchy to epic, a genre-bending journey that would make Massive Attack and DJ Shadow proud.”

Urban Dweller shares: “‘Slacks’ was a song I had on repeat during school bus rides (along South St fittingly), so it holds a special place for me, and I really wanted to do it justice. I knew right away I wanted to speed it up, add garage drums, and flip its melancholic tone into something brighter and more fast-paced, while still nodding to its moodier side. Liv’s vocals reminded me of artists like Julia Stone or Lisa Mitchell, and they were a dream to work with. I had so much fun chopping them up, and in the process, stumbled on this broken, glitchy vocal hook that became a centrepiece of the drops. I kept and reshaped the original keys to bring warmth and character to the remix, and added laughter from both witches and toddlers to create a contrast between chaos and innocence – and between uncertainty and optimism.”

For St. South, this project is more than just a remix collection – it’s a moment of reflection and full-circle creativity. First released on triple j Unearthed in 2012, “Slacks” became her breakout track, landing on The Vampire Diaries and helping launch her career. More than a decade later, as it garners more than 50 million streams worldwide, St. South chose to mark the occasion by inviting a new generation of artists to reimagine the song through her first-ever global remix competition.

“It feels like coming full circle,” St. South shared of the competition. “A remix competition launched my career as a producer…When I entered the Bon Iver Stems Project, I had never produced anything in my life, I was writing acoustic folk songs at the time. I downloaded the stems and GarageBand in the same week and spent the next two weeks learning how to use the DAW while chopping up and rearranging stems. I didn’t know what a sample pack was or know how to add my own production elements, so every single part of my remix was created using just Bon Iver’s stems. All you need is curiosity and creativity.”

The competition attracted entries from around the globe, with producers of all levels invited to rework “Slacks” using the original stems. For St. South, who won the Bon Iver Stems Project for her first-ever remix of “Wash” in 2012, the project was both a celebration of how far she’s come and a way of paying homage to her own creative origins.

ST. SOUTH ON EACH REMIX:

On BIGJOY’s remix: “This was one of the last remixes I received and it snuck in just in time to win a runner up position. I’m obsessed with the crunchy drums in this one. The new chords paired with the synth melody are so light and fun compared to the original. I love any song that can contrast emotional vocals against a fun instrumental, and this remix is the perfect example of a sad banger.”

On Mikk’s remix: “This was the very first remix I received and I remember thinking it was going to be hard to compete with. I listened for the first time driving home in the rain at night, and I’m so glad my first listen was in that setting. I’d argue this version was made for driving home in the rain and also crying on the dancefloor of a house party, with your friends in your arms. I love the new chord progression and the gentle percussion that carries the entire song in a really subtle way. It makes me feel the same way Fred Again makes me feel – like I could just sit in this song, on loop, and feel lighter with every play. I don’t listen to my own music, once it’s released I usually go years without listening to it again, but I’ve listened to this remix at least 40 times since Mikk entered the remix comp. Special shout out to the synth pad that moves through the entire mix like a warm hug.”

On Infinitefreefall’s remix: “I met Maxton (Infinitefreefall) when we both entered the Bon Iver Stems Project in 2012. We became fast friends online and ended up working together for years. He’s the boss behind one of my most popular releases – Get Good (Infinitefreefall Remix). He actually remixed Slacks years ago too, but we never released it, so I was so stoked that he tidied it up and entered it in the Remix Comp. I love the classic electronic chillwave energy of this remix. He’s also the chop king – before I started self-producing I would send all my songs to Max to add vocal chops. 1:58 is the perfect example of how good he is at creating entirely new melodies/chord progressions by vocal chopping.”

On Urban Dweller’s remix: “This remix by Urban Dweller is SO fun. I love how he completely flipped the energy of the original by creating something that feels playful and experimental. It feels like a theme park ride and I’ll never get sick of the new melodies he created with the vocal chops and samples. This is how a remix should feel.”

ST. SOUTH SLACKS (REMIXES) EP TRACKLISTING:
Slacks
Slacks (FVNERAL Remix)
Slacks (BIGJOY Remix)
Slacks (Mikk Remix)
Slacks (Infinitefreefall Remix)
Slacks (Urban Dweller Remix)

ABOUT ST. SOUTH

 St. South is the moniker of Olivia Gavranich, an independent singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Fremantle, Australia. Known for her nuanced, soulful electronic production and fiercely independent approach to music-making, she has established herself as a multifaceted artist who writes, performs, and produces all of her own material.

She self-released her debut EP Nervous Energy in 2016, garnering millions of streams and landing placements in The Vampire Diaries and The Fosters. She followed it up with 2017’s Inure, 2020’s full-length debut Get Well Soon, and her 2024 EP BIG SADS — a tender, cathartic project written during a period of personal upheaval. Most recently, she released its companion remix collection SMILE NOW CRY LATER (2025), featuring reimaginings of BIG SADS tracks by SOAK, BROODS, Willo, IMAGIRO, and Yumi Zouma.

An accomplished remixer in her own right, St. South has reworked tracks by Thelma Plum, HANDSOME, Miki Ratsula, and T. Thomason, and collaborated with artists around the globe including Odesza, BROODS, Yellow Straps, flowerkid, N.Y.C.K, Yumi Zouma, Willo, and Mt. Wolf.