Local Natives - Music From The Pen Gala 1983 (EP)

Cover songs to me are such a lost art so the fact that Local Natives have decided to show their renditions of these 80’s classics is beautiful cause if you know anything about their music then you know full well that their signature harmonies & melodies were meant to be utilized in the cover of classics as such. To my research, Apple Music had started a series called “The Shrink Next Door”, something I obviously caught onto a bit late but it stars comedy icons Paul Rudd & Will Ferrell & I won’t go into much more detail about that cause it won’t be as effective but I highly recommend you check it out, it’s a very entertaining watch!

The title of this extended play has everything to do with that episode of the series where they, in character perform 3 covers at the Pen Gala, circa ‘83 & speaking of the title, just the artwork direction itself is beautiful to me, the folded out slip from the cassette tape, which I just got into collecting, resembles just that being that it was a limited edition release for Record Store day, which I wish I had known about at the time so as to snag a copy but oh well, it’s still gorgeous! The thing about covers is to make the song completely your own & that they do while also respecting these artists legacies by not completely eviscerating these timeless records of theirs, rather breathing new life into these songs as a reminder that they’ll never go forgotten.

Honestly, who doesn’t love the 80’s, there’s so many bangers from that era & these gentlemen chose 4 of the best in my opinion, like, how could you not know let alone love these records? Even if you don’t know the originals, what they’ve done to them is beautiful enough for you to assume it’s their own songs only to find out their covers & hopefully that encourages you to go back to not only listen to the originals but discography dive into these artist’s archives! Roxy Music, 10CC, Gerry Raferty & Michael McDonald must all be so proud & thankful of our Local Natives for granting their timeless the art the elegance it so deserves.