New York indie pop band The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart have announced a new EP, and the first track off it is a cover of James’ ’90s Britpop classic “Laid,” complete with vocals by bandmember Jen Goma, who is also known for her work in A Sunny Day In Glasgow and People Get Ready. Hell, out November 13 via the band’s own label Painbow, features the title track, an original, and two covers: The aforementioned “Laid” and a take on “Ballad of the Band” by Felt.
Kip Berman of Pains of Being Pure At Heart explains in a press release, via Pitchfork: “A couple months ago I posted a demo for the song ‘Hell’ and some people said, ‘why don’t you record that for real?’ So we went over to my friend Danny’s studio (House Under Magic) and recorded the track along with two cover songs — ‘Ballad of the Band’ by Felt and ‘Laid’ by James as a way to mark our forthcoming tour of Japan. The latter has lead vocals by Jen Goma, who sang on our last album and also performs with the excellent pop contortionists, A Sunny Day in Glasgow. The Felt song is really the UR-Felt song, the wry articulation of what Felt is most famous for — not being an eighth as famous as they ought to be. The song ‘Hell’ is about how insufferable performances of sensitivity are when there’s a good song playing and someone you want to dance with.”
Back when James’ fantastic 2014 record La Petite Mort dropped last spring, we chatted with frontman and songwriter Tim Booth about a variety of topics, including the success of “Laid” here in America. Read it here, and listen to the Pains Of Being Pure at Heart’s reboot below.