May 092011
 

When Beck released his album Sea Change in 2002, there was little doubt about the meaning of the title. Coming off his Prince-esque Midnite Vultures, with its sleazy funk stylings, no one expected the bare bones sadness and stillness of Sea Change. By the time you hit the fifth track, “Lost Cause,” you were either head over heels for a side of Beck many people hadn’t seen before, or scrambling for your copy of Odelay. If you’re in the former camp, “Lost Cause” is a sacred song, sad beyond words despite the upbeat fingerpicking and swirling ambiance.

Brooklyn singer Chiara Angelicola, better known as Bird Call, treats the song with the reverence you would expect. The guitar part is still there, and the ghostly background noise is beautifully replaced with psychedelic sitar. Bird Call’s voice is at times as thin as a reed, sounding a bit like Joanna Newsom or Julia Stone. On the chorus, though, her style becomes husky, making the words as haunting as the original’s. Her version serves as a lovely counterpoint to Beck’s classic.

MP3: Bird Call – Lost Cause (Beck cover)
[audio: News0511/09LostCause.mp3|artists=Bird Call|titles=Lost Cause]


Other Creatures
Track Listing:

1. The Man With The Child In His Eyes (Kate Bush cover)
2. Lost Cause (Beck cover)
3. Creature Spirits Move Interlude
4. Into My Arms (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover)
5. Little Lies (Fleetwood Mac cover)
6. Doo Right (Man Man cover)
7. Little Lies (Fleetwood Mac cover) (Big Lies Remix)

Check out more from Bird Call at her website or MySpace.

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  One Response to “Bird Call Reimagines Beck’s “Lost Cause””

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  1. […] As we noted on Monday, Bird Call is putting out her covers EP, Other Creatures, on May 24th. After hearing the opening track from the album you might be reminded of a similarly-named group who put out a covers album last year: The Bird and the Bee. Their tribute to Hall & Oates was a very subtle updating of many of that duo’s greatest songs; they took the ’80s versions and lovingly tweaked them just enough to make them sound modern. […]

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