Covers are a touchy subject for many, a lot of people frown against all covers in principle and most people (me included) need at least some stamp of originality from the artist covering to see any merit for them, see Ellie Goulding's cover of Elton John for a perfect example of how to rub people up the wrong way (although to be fair to her, she has had a couple of covers that are very decent)...
Lykke Li has been ticking all my boxes since I first walked into Rough Trade on February 28th and discovered her (see this post for my thoughts on that and album review) and continues to do so with this cover of The Big Pink's "Velvet", a track transformed so much that if you heard it amongst a set of 'Wounded Rhymes' songs you'd be hard pressed to work out that it's not an original track.
Gone is the throbbing beat and distorted ambiance of the original, instead we've a stripped down (it was recorded for MTV unplugged), beautifully tender track, exhibiting the same vulnerability in her voice as she does on the album, it's a pretty spectacular cover if you ask me (you can watch the set on the MTV website here - although in the UK it seems restricted). (Thanks to Music From Go to Whoa)
Listen:
Lykke Li - Velvet (The Big Pink)
Here's a rather lovely acoustic version of probably my favourite track off 'Wounded Rhymes', "Sadness is a Blessing":
Lykke Li - Sadness Is A Blessing (Acoustic)
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