Cover Lay Down

Thanks to an extraordinarily generous anonymous benefactor, yesterdays mail contained an Audio Bone — a sort of headphone which fits in front of the ear, and, through the magic of bone conduction, sends sound directly to your inner ear, thus circumventing what is, in my case, a severely messed-up eardrum. Once again, I am floored by the generosity of others. Thank you, whoever you are, for making this still-struggling tinnitus sufferer and audiophile a very happy man indeed.

Even more amazing, the damn thing works. Though I continue to struggle to write with depth in the midst of the buzzringing, I am finally able to hear music - in short doses - well enough to start sampling the newest covers to come my way. And, thanks to a backlog of collected tuneage, some wonderful covers which have emerged from recent acoustic blogsessions and radioplay, and a few well-timed submissions from the universe, I’ve got lots of new and noteworthy coverfolk from relative unknowns to share. Let’s get to the music, shall we?


There’s not much out there to tell us about Corin Joel; his web page redirects, his MySpace page is essentially bare, and though the song below is atmospheric acoustic guitar and voice, he claims to be a piano rocker. But Joel Rakes, whose lovely Christmas covers we featured towards the end of the year, is a friend and fan; he passed along this cover of Katy Perry pop hit I Kissed a Girl, and I think it blows that bouncy Max Vernon piano oddity out of the water. Who knew the song would stand up so well as an acoustic version sans irony? Encore, Corin.

• Corin Joel: I Kissed A Girl (orig. Katy Perry)

By all accounts, Quebecois singer-songwriter Jason Bajada’s first big label release Loveshit isn’t going to be pure folk, if indeed there is such a thing. In fact, assuming that the three lovely songs posted on his MySpace page are any indication, the album — which drops February 10 via Maple Music — will come off as solid, slightly twee indiepop, without too much of an edge.

But though the production is consistent, don’t dismiss Bajada too quickly. The lyrics are solid, the arrangements restrained yet powerful; the vocals are echo-y, earnestly floated over a smooth post-pop beat; the overall effect is catchy and smart, reminiscent of the smooth chamberpop end of the indie spectrum. The aforementioned MySpace tracks give a crystal clear sense of Loveshit’s subtle, deceptively gentle power, and should go a long way towards helping the Bajada buzz, but before you go, check out this solo Wolf Parade cover — sparse by comparison to the rest of his recent work, it’s well worth its weight in bits and bytes.

• Jason Bajada: You Are A Runner and I Am My Father’s Son (orig. Wolf Parade)

Speaking of new labels, I finally caught up with post-folk electronics experimentalists Meursault, whose 2008 debut was put out by Matthew of Song, By Toad fame. Unsurprisingly, given Matt’s stellar, uniquely talented ability to capture the new and neotraditional sounds emerging from today’s britfolk movement, Meursault won kudos from the blogs at the end of the year, hitting many Best of 2008 lists. Even less surprisingly, like many of the musicians which Song, By Toad champions, though Mersault challenges the boundaries of folk itself, this is true folk music, managing to call to both modern and traditional forms in every note.

Here’s a startling cover of an old Moondog tune from Meursault: weird enough to match the streetperson story of The Viking of 6th Avenue himself, and just as poetic as the odd man turned out to be, this is true freakfolk buried under a hissing steampunk tapehiss and drone; it may not be the kind of singer-songwriter folk that we’re used to on this side of the pond, but the use of distortion as an instrument grows on you if you give it a chance. Plus a lovely, etherial, much more melodic take on traditional ballad The Cuckoo recorded at a Song, By Toad session last year which I keep at the top of my tradfolk playlist.

• Meursault: Westward, Ho (orig. Moondog)
• Alela Diane w/ Mariee Sioux: The Cuckoo (trad.)

And finally, since we’re on the subject of tradfolk music with roots in the British Isles, and since it looks like I’ll never truly recover that promised post-fest review of the Boston Celtic Music Festival, here’s a lovely pair of tunes that have remained in my head from that event. They come from Emma Beaton, a lovely Halifax lass who, after winning a 2008 Canadian Folk Music Award for Young Performer of the Year, recently relocated to Boston to join the growing tradfolk scene there, and who I’m planning on keeping a close eye on as she finds her way around the clubs and ceilidhs.

Emma is multitalented, on gorgeous clear voice and on instruments bowed (cello) and plucked (banjo); her recorded music to date is inventive and diverse, grounded in celtic and americana traditions but ultimately all her own, and more than anything I’ve heard in 2009, it reminds me why I listen to folk music in the first place. In fact, the best moment of the festival, for me, was Emma’s banjo duet with Nic Gareiss covering Kate Rusby’s All God’s Angels, with newcomer Nic on the Tim O’Brien part and what was possibly an oud. Though it was the first time the two had performed together, the sound was delicate and broken and perfectly sweet, much of a type with recent work from Sam Amidon and others of that neo-revivalist ilk, and I fell in love at once.

Beaton has recently joined modern american stringband Joy Kills Sorrow, but if I ever had the time and guts to start producing musicians on my own, I’d start with Emma and Nic as a duo; here’s hoping that their performance this month was just the first in a long and fruitful partnership.

• Emma Beaton: Make Me A Pallet on Your Floor (trad., via Gillian Welch)
• Emma Beaton: Red Rocking Chair (trad.)

Cover Lay Down publishes new features Wednesdays, Sundays, and the occasional otherday. Coming this week: fave coversongs from some of our favorite folkbloggers.