WONGIE INTRO: God Help The Girl

God Help The Girl (an introduction)
god help the girl - come monday night (mp3)

FROM BIO:
For those who have followed the progress of 'God Help The Girl' since the call for singers on iMeem in 2007 - here is some information about the first release from the record:

‘Come Monday Night,’ an orchestrated pop song from the pen of Stuart Murdoch, is the first single release from the ‘God Help The Girl’ album, to be released on 22nd June 2009.

‘God Help The Girl’ is a story set to music, which Murdoch has been working on intermittently for the last five years and his first new music since Belle and Sebastian’s seventh album, ‘The Life Pursuit’ in 2006.

"I was out for a run and I got this tune in my head,” says Stuart of the album. “It occurred to me that it wasn't a Belle & Sebastian song. I could hear female voices and strings, I could hear the whole thing, but I just couldn’t envisage myself singing it with the group.”

Both of these elements feature on what is one of the standout tracks on the album. The singer is Catherine Ireton, a native of Limerick who now lives in Edinburgh, discovered via a friend of a friend, and who has also previously appeared on Belle and Sebastian record sleeves.

After auditioning early in the process, she ended up taking the majority of lead vocals on the album. In Catherine, Stuart has found a rare talent - her clear, lilting vocals bringing to life the characters in Stuart’s head and making for an ambitious and engrossing musical journey.

‘Come Monday Night’ also features an orchestra conducted by Rick Wentworth as well as Stuart, Stevie, Bob and Richard from Belle and Sebastian. The b-side is the sublimely titled ‘Howard Jones Is My Mozart.’

various covers

i've been feeling kind of guilty for my lack of posts here and i thought i'd ease my conscience with a batch of covers done by some unexpected performers.

i'm actually a big fan of cover versions only because when it's done right, you get to see a side of an artist that they may not be able to express through their own music. i'm also a big fan of the mashing up of genres (hip hop sung by an indie band, folk by a heavy metal posse etc...).

besides the blogs, another great place to find these covers is at jo whiley (which is where i found alot of these). here are a few of my faves of the moment:

ray lamontagne - crazy (gnarls barkley cover)
osunlade and erro - everything in it's right place (radiohead cover)
natasha bedingfield - somewhere only we know (keane cover)
arctic monkeys - love machine (girls aloud cover)
starsailor - push the button (sugababes cover)
david gray - smile like you mean it (killers cover)
belle and sebastian - the boy with the thorn in his side (live) (smiths cover)

and a classic:
communards - never can say goodbye (classical mix) (gloria gaynor cover)