Baths (a.k.a. LA musician Will Wiesenfeld) stopped by the A.V. Club this week to take part in the A.V. Undercover series with an LCD Soundsystem track. He explained his choice of the oft-covered “All My Friends” by saying, “I’ve always liked the song…it feels very timely and serendipitous and everything now that they’re breaking up, and it feels important that I get to do this song at this point in time.”
Wiesenfeld added, “I did the video edit [version because] I saw the music video first and I fell totally, totally in love with it. I thought it was beautiful.” That decision means that Baths’ cover lacks the soaring scope of the 8-minute original. Wiesenfeld also chooses to pare the song down to just vocals, piano, and soft handclap percussion. Judged by itself, the cover is a competent, quietly sad performance, but it’s hard to measure up to James Murphy’s much-lauded original. The abbreviated lyrics in Baths’ version feel gloomy when they’re not driven by LCD Soundsystem’s insistent, sparkling keyboard. Murphy’s arrangement is bittersweet, but it’s a celebration of nostalgia while Baths’ cover is more like a eulogy.
Baths – All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem cover)
Check out more Baths on MySpace and hear more from the Undercover series at The A.V. Club.
