Composer and multi-instrumentalist Joseph Shabason is an adaptable collaborator with a long resume. He's been a member of Destroyer, and he's released records with people like Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn. He's also been making music with singer-songwriter Nicholas Krgovich for a long time. Just last year, they got together with Matthew Sage to make an album called Shabason, Krgovich, Sage. Now, Shabason and Krgovich have made another album with another entity -- time time, with the Japanese duo Tenniscoats. To announce it, they've given us their take on a My Bloody Valentine classic.
"Lose My Breath" comes from My Bloody Valentine's 1988 LP Isn't Anything, and the Shabason, Krgovich, Tenniscoats version of that song is the closing track from that entity's forthcoming album Wao. Last year, Joseph Shabason and Nicholas Krgovich toured Japan together, and they got Tenniscoats members Saya and Ueno to open for them and to serve as their backing band. They made a connection, and one of the first songs that they worked on together was this whispery, thrumming MBV cover. Here's what Krgovich says about it:
Before the first show of our tour together, Saya asked if I knew this My Bloody Valentine song and if I would join them and sing it as part of their set. Of course, I was up for it, but MBV is a bit of a blind spot for me. She was like, "It's called 'Lose My Breath,'" and then as soon as the wordless oooh's happened I was like, "Oh! That one!!!" I had a cassette copy of Isn't Anything that I got at a thrift store while in high school, and it was in my old Volvo as a teenager. I don't remember listening to that tape all that much, but I remember loving that melody, and I still do. I'm glad we made a recording of it for the album as a souvenir of the serendipity, and much like finally watching The Sopranos, I need to put "listen to My Bloody Valentine" near the top of my to-do list.
He really should listen to My Bloody Valentine and watch The Sopranos. Those are good things to do. Below, check out the Shabason, Krgovich, Tenniscoats version of "Lose My Breath," as well as the original My Bloody Valentine track and the tracklist for Wao, the new album that Shabason, Krgovich, Tenniscoats recorded at the Guggenheim House, an artist residency in Kobe.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Departed Bird"
02 "A Fish Called Wanda"
03 "Shioya Collection"
04 "Our Detour"
05 "At Guggenhein House"
06 "Ode To Jos'"
07 "Look Look Look"
08 "Lose My Breath"
Wao is out 8/29 on Western Vinyl.
