Easter may still be a few days away, but the Lorde has risen. The 27-year-old singer-songwriter finally returned on Thursday (March 28), nearly three years after dropping her last record in the studio, Solar powerto release her version of Talking Heads' 'Take Me to the River', becoming the third artist to cover the rock band before A24 Stop making sense tribute album.
The new track finds Lorde channeling David Byrne's effortless composure as she banter over an unlikely bass line and elaborate percussion. “I don't know why I love you the way I do/ After all you've put me through,” he sings. “The 16 candles that burn on my wall/ Make me the biggest fool of all.”
The “Green Light” artist also wrote a nostalgic note to fans recalling the moment she first discovered Talking Heads in 2008, describing herself as “twelve years old, eyes painted black, jaw full of acne” watching an old video by Byrne and bassist Tina. Weymouth performs “Take Me to the River” on TV. The group – which also consisted of Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison – reached No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979 with their version of the track, originally performed by Al Green.
“I feel a portal open between me and the screen,” Lorde wrote, directing the scene. “Humour, lust, rhythm and ritual run through me. I don't understand what I'm feeling, but I understand that the band in the grainy video lives with the same weirdness that I do. My palms are tingling. My insides have been replaced.”
The Grammy winner also explained that she wanted her cover to invoke the same untamed youth she felt when she first watched Byrne perform. “We did it quickly, I didn't let myself settle it too much,” he wrote of the track. “He had to feel young and imperfect.”
Lorde's cover follows Paramore's take on “Burning Down the House” and Teezo Touchdown's cover of “Making Flippy Floppy.” All three songs will be featured in the upcoming A24 Everyone's Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads' Stop making sense music collection, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of the group's iconic 1984 Stop making sense concert film.
Listen to Lorde's version of “Take Me to the River” below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/lorde-take-me-to-the-river-talking-heads-cover-1235643357/
