I couldn't name two songs by the Welsh singer Donna Lewis, but the one song that I can name, the 1996 global smash "I Love You Always Forever" is an absolutely perfect piece of music, a dreamlike mirage that creeps into your brain and stays there. I think of "I Love You Always Forever" as an old friend, and a few musicians evidently agree with me. The xx's Romy sampled the track on her single "Always Forever" last year, and now Japanese Breakfast and SASAMI have covered it on BBC Radio 1.
Japanese Breakfast will release the new album For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) on Friday, and we just posted a We've Got A File On You interview with Michelle Zauner earlier this morning. Zauner recently did a BBC Live Lounge session where she performed her own songs "Orlando In Love" and "Magic Mountain," and she also covered "I Love You Always Forever." On that cover, Zauner was joined by her friend SASAMI, who happened to be in London at the same time and who just released her own LP Blood On The Silver Screen.
Before singing "I Love You Always Forever," Zauner said, "Everytime I hear it, I feel exhilarated, and it puts me in a good mood. I wanted to do something a little bit more melancholy, since that's the theme of the album, but this is just its own separate little bop. I guess there's a lot of longing in there... It's just so well-written and moves so well that you really don't need much for you to feel the way that it moves." You can hear the glowingly stripped-down Japanese Breakfast/SASAMI take on "I Love You Always Forever" here; it starts at the 1:35:28 mark. Watch the video for the Donna Lewis original below.
For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is out 3/21 on Dead Oceans. Blood On The Silver Screen is out now on Domino.
