Amen Dunes – “Song To The Siren” (This Mortal Coil Cover) (Stereogum Premiere)

Amen Dunes – “Song To The Siren” (This Mortal Coil Cover) (Stereogum Premiere)

Earlier this year, we payed close attention to Amen Dunes as frontman Damon McMahon was gearing up to release his third record Love. During the Love recording sessions, McMahon had to do some serious truncating and deleting because there were too many ideas to fit on one record. Now Amen Dunes announces the slated release of an EP called Cowboy Worship, a collection of songs that didn’t make it past the scalpel but deserve revival. They’ve shared a single from the upcoming EP, a new version of Tim Buckley’s “Song To The Siren” which originally came out in 1970. The Amen Dunes version is actually a cover of the 1983 interpretation by This Mortal Coil, although it happens to sound more like the original. McMahon’s emotive, faltering vocals bring a powerful vulnerability to the track, further intensified by the steady plucking of electric guitar by Ben Greenberg (Hubble, The Men). “Here me sing/swim to me,” McMahon sings, his voice shuddering from the pangs of love. Listen below.

Cowboy Worship’s tracklist:

01 “I Know Myself (Montreal)”
02 “Song To The Siren”
03 “I Can’t Dig It (China Street Blues)”
04 “Green Eyes (Music Blues)”
05 “Lezzy Head (Burial)”
06 “Love (Montreal)”

And here are Amen Dunes’ 2015 tour dates so far:

01/22 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom w/ Kevin Morby, Nude Beach
03/26 Baltimore, MD @ TBD
03/27 Raleigh, NC @ Pinhook
03/28 Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
03/29 Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
03/31 Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival
04/01 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
04/02 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern

Cowboy Worship is out 1/20 on Sacred Bones.

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