A stark ballad that briefly explodes into a rock jam buried deep in Pearl Jam‘s fourth album No Code – their first album not to go multi-platinum – “Present Tense” is a deep cut. It is their 37th most streamed song – so maybe it’s a little less deep than this No Code fan assumed – but it doesn’t seem to have an official cover by anyone (according to SecondHandSongs). That is, until last year.
Brittany Davis is a blind keyboardist who also has synesthesia. They put out their debut EP in 2023 and their debut album in 2024. How did Davis come to record this Pearl Jam deep cut? Well, they’re also in Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s band Painted Shield. “Present Tense” isn’t one of Gossard’s songs but he’s likely the reason Davis discovered it. They first recorded the cover for a Record Store Day sample for Gossard’s label Loosegrove, which Davis is on.
Davis begins their version with some key-tinkling before they and their band play the melody. Their voice is more soulful than Eddie Vedder’s original. The band lays down a funkier groove than Pearl Jam and the tempo is faster. A stand-up handles the loud bass part that dominates the chorus in the original.
As the cover goes on, the drums lay down a complicated groove. (There are only drums at the end of the original.) Davis performs a piano solo in lieu of the jam before the band resumes the verse melody for the coda.
It’s a surprisingly funky and jazzy cover of a song that gives off neither vibe originally. Despite sticking to the melody and structure, it no longer sounds like a Pearl Jam song. Check it out:
