2022 is shaping up to be a big year for new wave band Nation of Language. Back in January, they made their late-night television debut on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and they are currently gear up to hit the road in support of their 2021 album A Way Forward this week. Today (Feb. 28), the trio is treating fans to their cover of Broken Social Scene’s “Stars and Sons” as part of Under the Radar’s 20th anniversary compilation Covers of Covers (Mar. 4, Laundromat Records).
Speaking on how they made the song their own, Ian Richard Devaney said:
Once we settled on Broken Social Scene, and this song, we realized that loving “Stars and Sons” so much, if we didn’t transform it a fundamental way, we would end up just copying it straight up. Not wanting to do that, we decided to change the rhythm to turn it into a shuffle, which made it easier to get loose with the structure and have fun with it. We worked with Nick Millhiser of Holy Ghost!, who worked on parts of A Way Forward. On the album, we have a song called ‘Former Self’ that’s also a shuffle, but in a much more reserved way, so we wanted to go all-out here, and turn it into a weirdo dance song.
Below, listen to Nation of Language’s cover of “Stars and Sons” and keep scrolling to revisit “The Grey Commute” from A Way Forward.
