People attempt covers of Björk songs all the time, but that's not an easy thing to do. If you're going to cover a Björk song, you need to have a take. Fortunately, Philadelphia's noisy and adventurous Her New Knife have a take. Last year, Her New Knife released their EP chrome is lullaby and made it onto our list of the year's best shoegaze songs. In the months ahead, they'll tour with Spirit Of The Beehive and Water From Your Eyes. Today, they offer up a radically reconstructed version of "Pagan Poetry," from Björk's 2001 classic Vespertine. You'll lahhhhve it, you'll lahhhhve it, you'll lahhhhve it, you'll lahhhhve it.
Björk's original "Pagan Poetry" is a richly orchestrated track, full of strings and buzzes and choral vocals and off-kilter clicks. With their cover, Her New Knife strip everything away, mostly limiting it to voice and guitar. But this isn't an acoustic version. They somehow get the guitar to sound like a harpsichord and to imitate all the peculiar arrangement choices of Björk's original, doing something cool and new while showing just how amazing the original track is from different angles. Here's what bandleader Edgar Atencio says about the cover:
Björk as an artist has always inspired me. In her songwriting, I’ve always found something very important to take note of, whether that be her lyrical imagery, sonic texturing, expression and inflection of the voice, or the pursuit of something new and personal and raw in her music.
In 2024, Ben [Kachler] and I recorded mostly guitar (classical and electric) and voice (additional vocals by Dylan Vaisey & Cassidy Hammond). In juxtaposition to the varied and lush orchestration of the original track, I wanted our version to be sparse and more focused on just guitar and voice -- in an attempt to embody the rawness of Björk’s performance. This cover is something that I felt we could do in our own way, as a tribute to all these aspects of her music that I hold close.
Below, check out Her New Knife's "Pagan Poetry" cover, the Björk original, and the band's upcoming tour dates.
TOUR DATES:
7/13 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Resonant Head *
7/15 - Phoenix, AZ @ Wilson's Studios Warehouse
7/16 - Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
7/17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Regent *
7/18 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley *
7/19 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel *
7/21 - Portland, OR @ Holocene *
7/22 - Boise, ID @ The Shredder *
7/24 - Las Vegas, NV @ Swan Dive *
7/25 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriets *
7/26 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
7/29 - Denver, CO @ 7th Circle
7/30 - Kansas City, MO @ Farewell
7/31 - Des Moines, IA @ Lefty’s
9/22 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s #
9/23 - Washington, DC @ The Atlantis #
9/24 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle #
9/26 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl #
9/27 - Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room #
9/28 - St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House #
9/30 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry #
10/01 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon #
10/02 - Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village #
10/03 - Detroit, MI @ El Club #
10/06 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB #
10/07 - Amherst, MA @ The Drake #
10/08 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair #
10/10 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
* with Spirit Of The Beehive
# with Water From Your Eyes
Her New Knife's "Pagan Poetry" cover is out now on Julia's War.
