Amanda Palmer and Rhiannon Giddens teamed up for a cover of Portishead’s 1994 track “It’s A Fire.” In typical quarantine fashion, the song was recorded with the help of musicians from around the globe, including New Zealand, Ireland and Los Angeles.
“There is something about this song that speaks to a deeper connection between things happening right now,” Palmer said. “Black Lives Mattering, COVID, fear and trust are all colliding with one another…I wanted this cover version to sound more like a dark closet talk between two friends…hanging onto each other for dear life whispering, ‘we’re gonna make it out of here.’”
Giddens also commented: “It was a delight to work on this with Amanda Palmer. It felt so good to make some art together, even separated by half a world. We all need to take a collective breath together, and breathe on…it’s all of us or none of us.”
Stream Palmer and Giddens’ cover of “It’s A Fire” via Bandcamp here; all proceeds are going to the Free Black University Fund.
Scroll down for the track art designed by Jessica Coppet, a French illustrator living in Australia. Scroll even further down to revisit Palmer’s and Giddens’ 2019 Paste studio sessions.
“It’s A Fire” Track Art:
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