Cat Power Teases New ‘Covers’ Album With Inventive Renditions of Frank Ocean, Pogues Classics
Cat Power has announced a new album of covers — succinctly dubbed Covers — and she’s dropped two tracks from the LP, renditions of Frank Ocean’s “Bad Religion” and the Pogues’ “A Pair of Brown Eyes.”
For her cover of “Bad Religion,” Cat Power latches onto the pulsing piano at the song’s heart, drops heavier rock drums beneath it, and laces the song with smoldering guitar lines. Along with releasing the album version of the song, Cat Power shared a live studio performance of “Bad Religion” on The Late Late Show With James Corden Wednesday, October 6th.
In a statement, Cat Power said her cover of “Bad Religion” came out of a creeping exhaustion she felt when performing her own song, “In Your Face,” while on tour. “That song was bringing me down. So I started pulling out lyrics from ‘Bad Religion’ and singing those instead of getting super depressed. Performing covers is a very enjoyable way to do something that feels natural to me when it comes to making music.”
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Cat Power’s rendition of the Pogues’ “A Pair of Brown Eyes” is equally inventive, with the musician doing away completely with the original’s marching drums, and instead crafting an aching, nebulous soundscape out of her voice and what feels like the heavy breath of a synth or organ.
Covers — which will follow Cat Power’s 2018 album Wanderer — is set to arrive on January 14th, 2022 via Domino. The tracklist also includes songs by Dead Man’s Bones, Bob Seger, Iggy Pop, Kitty Wells, Nick Cave, the Replacements, Billie Holiday, and Jackson Brown. Cat Power also included an updated version of her song “Hate,” from 2006’s The Greatest, retitled “Unhate.”
Covers Tracklist
1. “Bad Religion” – Frank Ocean
2. “Unhate” – Cat Power – Chan Marshall
3. “Pa Pa Power” – Dead Man’s Bones
4. “A Pair of Brown Eyes” – The Pogues
5. “Against the Wind” – Bob Seger
6. “Endless Sea” – Iggy Pop
7. “These Days” – Jackson Browne
8. “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” – Kitty Wells
9. “I Had a Dream Joe” – Nick Cave
10. “Here Comes a Regular” – The Replacements
11. “I’ll Be Seeing You” – Billie Holiday
