Meet Postmodern Jukebox: Everyone’s favorite music collective. Known for taking pop and rock tunes and turning them into everything from ragtime to bebop to soul covers. Recently the pianist-spearheaded group has decided to recreate the mournful and apocalyptic feeling of the Soundgarden tune “Black Hole Sun.”
This cover begins with a lush backdrop of saxophones. As they swell “Black Hole Sun” into existence, a piano gets peppered in, and then (finally) the voice enters. From stunning falsetto leaps to the syrupy honey mids and lows, singer/percussionist Willie Ray Moore Jr.’s vocals are the musical icing on the cake.
Next, a snare comments. Then, the mellow upright and guitar come in. Eventually, the tune picks up, and the section after that goes quite heavy on the backbeat, making it feel groovier and groovier.
Just as we think they’re done, the song comes back in with a gentle section, before it crescendos into its jammy, jazzy ending. Who would’ve thought that the edgy, ending riff would sound so good in the genre of soul?
Read our review of Essentials, Postmodern Jukebox’s greatest hits, here.
