The relatively scant body of work English folk singer
Nick Drake created in his short life has proven to be one of the more lastingly influential in music history. Though plenty of artists have impacted the sound and vision of those that followed, the painful obscurity of
Drake's music while he was alive, the incredible power he harnessed in just three studio albums, and the mysterious air that touched everything he did all contribute to the unique spell he has continuously cast over generations of fans and music makers.
The Endless Coloured Ways is one of several various-artists compilations paying tribute to
Drake's catalog, but this one has an interesting angle in that the acts involved were instructed to ignore the original version of the song they covered and instead reinvent it in their own way. This concept yields a better mix of results than might be expected.
Let's Eat Grandma's soft electro-pop take on "From the Morning" doesn't lose any of the original's gentle joy, despite completely replacing its fingerpicked guitars with vibrating synth pads and the static sway of an archaic drum machine.
AURORA's beautiful electronic take on "Pink Moon" is similar. A hazy duet on "Harvest Breed" by
Skullcrusher and
Gia Margaret builds on
Drake's spare arrangement with cloudy ambient textures and layers of haunted vocal harmonies. There's a gnawing post punk-rendition of "Cello Song" from
Fontaines D.C., a rearrangement of "Northern Sky" from
Karine Polwart and
Kris Drever that pairs jazz inflections with traditional folk vocal styles, and a fairly faithful cover of "Time Has Told Me" from
Ben Harper -- all ear-catching standouts. Due to the nature of the compilation's prompt,
The Endless Coloured Ways lacks continuity, and some of its unmoored stylistic experiments clash with one another. The strongest submissions make it worth the listen, however, as it's wonderful to hear yet another generation of artists doing interesting things inspired by
Drake's evergreen presence. ~ Fred Thomas
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