On her 1990 debut album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, Sinéad O’Connor sang about police brutality in the UK on the song “Black Boys In Mopeds.” Around Christmas, after seeing the rash of American police killings that made last year a hell of a time to be alive, Erika M. Anderson recorded her own version of the song. Where the O’Connor original is, more or less, an acoustic ballad, the EMA rendition is a droning, suffocated synth piece. But her cover is just as quietly devastating as the original. Below, listen to EMA’s take on the song and read her statement on it.

(via NewHive)

EMA writes:

I recorded this version of the Sinead O’Connor song “Black Boys On Mopeds” during the winter, before Christmas. I did it late at night during a power outage, straight onto the laptop in a cold house filled with candles.

I meant to release it over the holidays but for multiple reasons it just didn’t happen.

Now an investigative report by the DOJ has confirmed a history and pattern of racially-based discrimination and harassment amongst the law enforcement of Ferguson, MO.

I’ve chosen to leave the “season’s greetings” motif unchanged, even though I consider this issue to be ongoing.

EMA’s album The Future’s Void is out now on Matador, and it’s great.