Singer Angel Olsen has shared another tune from her upcoming covers EP Aisles. This time she takes on Men Without Hats 80s classic The Safety Dance.
Just like with her take on Gloria, Olsen has slowed down the tune to give it a whole new sound.
Men Without Hats were a one-hit-wonder with tune in 1983. The new-wave band from Quebec were inspired to write the song when clubs brought in policies to ban people from pogo dancing.
The song has previously been covered by J Dilla, who delivered a synth heavy instrumental version of the track. The Donna’s previously transformed the song into a face paced punk rock number, while it’s been sampled by Daedalus and Teebs, and Boyz II Men.
Take a listen to Angel Olsen’s new version.
The Aisles EP is the first release on her new Jagjaguwar imprint ‘something cosmic’ and will be out on 20th August.
“I know it’s not really in my history to do something unintentional or just for the hell of it, but my connection to these songs is pretty straightforward, I just wanted to have a little fun and be a little more spontaneous, and I think I needed to remember that I could!” Olsen said of her new EP.
Aisles was recorded in the winter of 2020 at Asheville’s Drop of Sun Studios with co-producer and engineer Adam McDaniel.
“I told Adam I had an idea to record some covers and bring some of the band into the mix, or add other players. I needed to laugh and have fun and be a little less serious about the recording process in general,” Olsen said.
“I thought about completely changing some of the songs and turning them inside out. I’d come over to find Adam had set up 5 or so synthesisers, and we’d get lost on a part for a while messing with some obscure pedal I knew nothing about. We’d spend a good amount of time going through sounds before finding one or two, sometimes we’d get real weird and decide to just go with it.”
Olsen describes the songs as tunes you hear while you’re in a supermarket doing your weekly shopping, hence the EP’s title Aisles.
On the new offering Angel Olsen also performs Eyes Without a Face originally by Billy Idol, OMD’s If You Leave and Alphaville’s Forever Young.
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