Cat Power’s Chan Marshall will return early next year with a new covers album. As a preview, she appeared The Late Late Show with James Corden Wednesday night to perform her take on Frank Ocean’s “Bad Religion.” Additionally, she’s shared a studio version of The Pogues’ “A Pair of Brown Eyes.”
Simply titled Covers, Marshall’s first covers record since 2008’s Jukebox also features songs by Nick Cave, Iggy Pop, Jackson Browne, The Replacements, Billie Holiday, and more. Additionally, the 11-track set comes with an updated version of “Hate,” her own original cut from 2006’s The Greatest that has been reworked into “Unhate.”
Cat Power’s cover of “Bad Religion” came about while on tour for her most recent album, 2018’s Wanderer. Marshall grew burnt out playing the emotionally demanding “In Your Face,” and looked for a substitute. “That song was bringing me down,” she said in a statement. “So I started pulling out lyrics from ‘Bad Religion’ and singing those instead of getting super depressed. Performing covers is a very enjoyable way to do something that feels natural to me when it comes to making music.”
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Marshall called her rendition of “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” her “personal favorite” on Covers. It swaps out the rollicking accordion and plucked strings of the original for an instrumentation that gently laps at the eardrum like waves on the beach. Check out her “Bad Religion” performance on Corden and studio take on “A Pair of Brown Eyes” below.
Pre-orders for Covers are ongoing, including a limited-run silver vinyl edition with an exclusive 7″ featuring Cat Power’s version of “You’ve Got the Silver” by The Rolling Stones.
In August, Cat Power contributed three new songs to the Flag Day soundtrack alongside Eddie Vedder and Glen Hansard. Marshall just finished supporting Alanis Morissette on the Jagged Little Pill 25th anniversary tour after replacing Liz Phair, and next year she’ll be touring Europe. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
Covers Artwork:
Covers Tracklist:
01. Bad Religion – Frank Ocean
02. Unhate – Cat Power
03. Pa Pa Power – Dead Man’s Bones
04. A Pair of Brown Eyes – The Pogues
05. Against the Wind – Bob Seger
06. Endless Sea – Iggy Pop
07. These Days – Jackson Browne
08. It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels – Kitty Wells
09. I Had a Dream Joe – Nick Cave
10. Here Comes a Regular – The Replacements
11. I’ll Be Seeing You – Billie Holiday