Sia – “Like A River Runs” (Bleachers Cover)

Sia – “Like A River Runs” (Bleachers Cover)

Jack Antonoff has released a live Bleachers EP called Like A River Runs that features a 15-minute conversation with a dream specialist and a cover of the title track by Sia. “Like A River Runs” is the third single from Antonoff’s Strange Desire album, and this EP centers around a new version of that track, Sia’s cover of it, and a live version. The last track — the dream conversation — is called “Dreams Aren’t Random” and Antonoff shares several of his most poignant, powerful dreams over a layer of moody synths.

You probably could’ve guessed that the Sia cover is the real gem. Stately, crystalline strings house her possessed pop-star voice, a howl that inhabits the grief of the song like it’s her own. The rhythms and pacing evoke Phil Collins so strongly that I can almost hear a huge swoop of the late-entrance drums he favored coming in toward the back half, but sadly, they’re not really there. Regardless, this is finespun elegiac pop sung by the genre’s foremost expert on pain. Listen.

The Like A River Runs EP is out now, get it here.

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