Kississippi – “Kiss Me” (Sixpence None The Richer Cover) (Stereogum Premiere)

Kississippi – “Kiss Me” (Sixpence None The Richer Cover) (Stereogum Premiere)

Out of all the off-beat late-’90s music trends, the mainstream’s brush-up with sappy Christian rock groups may stand as one of the weirdest. But as a kid who was going to a sheltered private school at the time, some of those songs served as a bridge to more (and better) music that was of the secular variety. Sixpence None The Richer’s “Kiss Me,” which struck big right at the turn of the millennium, was certainly one of those gateway songs — ostensibly Christian music that didn’t really have all that much to do with religion and, oddly, always seemed more sexual and sensual than the “heathen” music that it played alongside on the radio. Kississippi — the Philadelphia duo and Band To Watch — have covered the song for Sugar Rush, a new compilation from The Grey Estates and Negative Fun Records. Their version is stripped down to just a guitar, but otherwise hews closely to the original, capturing its lovelorn essence perfectly. Listen below.

The compilation also features covers from Alright (The Bouncing Souls’ “Hopeless Romantic”), Daddy Issues (Keel Her’s “Riot Grrl”), and Boosegumps (Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere). Listen to the latter two of those below.

Sugar Rush is out 2/29 — pre-order it here.

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