Courtney Barnett – “Different Now” (Chastity Belt Cover)
In 2013, the Seattle indie rock band Chastity Belt released their debut album No Regerts. That LP’s 10th anniversary is coming up in about a week, and to mark the occasion, Chastity Belt got Courtney Barnett to record a dreamy cover of a Chastity Belt song that’s not even on that album.
Courtney Barnett recorded her version of “Different Now,” the opening track from Chastity Belt’s 2017 album I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone, with Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa. Barnett sings and plays guitar, while Mozgawa produces and plays drums and synth. Together, they’ve kept the free-floating contemplation of the original while adding some ’80s college-rock gloss. In a press release, Courtney Barnett says:
This song is so special to me. I remember when the album came out and I listened to “Different Now” over and over, I thought they were singing directly to me. It’s a perfect piece of songwriting, I showed it to Kurt [Vile] and he would always sing it to me on tour. I love Chastity Belt. I’m pretty sure we met in 2014 at a record store in Seattle. Then we toured together in 2015, and we’ve been friends ever since.
I originally played it as a little folk acoustic version, then I asked Stella [Mozgawa] to program some drums and it turned into something a lot more fun. we tracked straight to the Tascam 388 and it was a real joy to make.
Below, listen to Barnett’s version of “Different Now” and watch the original Chastity Belt video, which riffs on Temple Of The Dog’s “Hunger Strike” clip.
Courtney Barnett’s instrumental album End Of The Day is out 9/8 on Milk! Records/Mom+Pop. Barnett’s version of “Different Now” will come out 10/27, on a split 7″ with Kurt Vile’s cover of Chastity Belt’s “This Time Of Night,” via Suicide Squeeze.