New Music: Art in Manila: "The Sweat Descends" (Les Savy Fav Cover) [Stream]
If this curious cover from recent Saddle Creek acquisition Art in Manila-- led by Azure Ray's Orenda Fink and ex-Anniversary keyboardist Adrianne Verhoeven, with help from some other Omaha regulars-- does one thing, it highlights Tim Harrington's prowess as a lyricist. You might not quite catch Tim using words like "palimpsest" and inviting us to "fuck [his] tongue" in the explosive original, but Fink's version lays the compositional elements bare, demonstrating just how rock solid they are even when not shouted by a hulking fireball of a man lurching around on stage and pouring beer into his briefs.
Wisely, Art in Manila don't attempt to trump Harrington and company at their own lawless game, instead relying on a simpler combination of acoustic guitar, tambourine, and some spectral vocal loops. Fink keeps a straight face throughout, making a compelling case for this song's place around a campfire. You might still yearn for the cathartic outbursts of the original, but, I mean, you try covering a Les Savy Fav song.
[MySpace] | [from Set the Woods on Fire; due 08/07/07 on Saddle Creek]