Later this week, Run For Cover will release I Will Swim To You, a new tribute compilation dedicated to the work of the late Songs: Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co. leader Jason Molina. We've already posted the covers from MJ Lenderman, Sun June, Trace Mountains, and Teen Suicide, and the comp also includes contributions from Hand Habits, Runnner, Advance Base, and Friendship, among others. Today, we get to hear two more advance tracks from Horse Jumper Of Love and Lutalo.
Boston's Horse Jumper Of Love recently released two new tracks, "The Idiot" and "The Car Knows The Way," and helped out on Winter's "Misery." For I Will Swim To You, they've contributed a tangled, intense seven-minute cover of "Blue Factory Flame," a bleak epic from Songs: Ohia's 2002 album Didn't It Rain. In a press release, Horse Jumper Of Love's Dimitri Giannopoulos of Horse Jumper says:
Bradford Krieger co-produced our cover and played second guitar, and Ella Williams from Squirrel Flower sang harmony with me. This song cuts through to some deeper, primal part of me. It has made me cry before. When I hear the first line, "When I die...," everything in my life swirls around in my head. Then the first chorus hits, and I feel removed from it all -- free, because there is nothing. But the amp hum left in the recording is one of my favorite things -- it feels like an electronic voice phenomenon, like some spirit trying to communicate with us, to remind us there isn’t just nothing and emptiness. Jason Molina has proved that through his music.
Vermont indie rock musician Lutalo has also shared a laconic, echoing cover of "Shadow Answers The Wall," from Jason Molina's posthumously released album Eight Gates. Lutalo says, "I love the general tone of the song, but also the lyrical structure felt so resonant to me. I appreciate how vague the lyrics are, allowing the listener to associate their own thoughts and feelings. It's a type of poetry I always lean toward -- Jason was a true master of that freedom of experience." Listen to both covers below.
I Will Swim To You: A Tribute To Jason Molina is out 9/5 on Run For Cover.
