Brighton, U.K., rock quartet Porridge Radio have shared an impassioned Leonard Cohen cover that is certain to send you reeling into the weekend. Dana Margolin and company performed “Who by Fire” at St. Giles’ Church, Camberwell, in London, as captured by director El Hardwick. There’s a certain hushed emptiness to the venue that only adds to the performance’s poignance: Porridge Radio are seen socially distant and alone in the expansive space of St. Giles, fighting to fill it with the sheer emotion of their music.
“I’ve loved Leonard Cohen since I was a teenager, and when he died we learnt this song in tribute to him,” Porridge Radio (Margolin, presumably) explained via Twitter. “It’s always been a favourite of ours so we were really happy to record it for our session at St Giles’ Church Camberwell.” Of “Who by Fire” itself, they also note, “The lyrics are from the Jewish liturgy for the new year (Rosh Hashana), and this was filmed the same week as Rosh Hashana this year.”
Porridge Radio made their Secretly Canadian debut in March, releasing Every Bad to widespread critical acclaim. Paste ranked the album among this year’s best to that point over the summer—chances are, you’ll be seeing it again when we publish our list of the year’s best albums, period.
Watch Porridge Radio (and Cohen himself, also in London) perform “Who by Fire” below and revisit a Cohen concert from the Paste archives further down.
