Split between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Albany, NY, Remo Drive – the longstanding project of brothers Erik and Stephen Paulson – announce the extension of their latest record Mercy due for release on October 18th via Epitaph. Mercy Deluxe introduces four new covers that reinvent songs from their fourth album released in February of this year. Tapping a collection of old friends, collaborators and tour mates united by a shared love of music, each arrangement highlights different shades of innovation with a quiet reverence for the original track.
The band have shared the reimagined version of ‘Please, Please Be Smart’ covered by buzzy LA band Wilt who toured with Remo Drive this past Spring. Their version leans into the slight distortion of the original, replacing the jangly acoustic guitars with fuzzy arena rock riffs that transform the song into an upbeat alternative track with hues of shoegaze. Listen below!
“We had a hard time picking what song to do,” the members of Wilt claim earnestly, grappling between another Mercy LP favorite, ‘White Dress’. “’Please, Please Be Smart’ really stuck with us. With its off-kilter opening riff, we just let our imaginations run wild with the arrangement. The crescendo really gave Chelsea (vocalist) an opportunity to rip at the end, too.”
On being tapped for Mercy Deluxe, Wilt continue: “After being on the road with Remo Drive for a month and hearing Mercy cover to cover every night, we got to know the album very well. We were already thinking about paying tribute to them with a cover as a thank-you for giving us our first US tour experience, so when they reached out it was a no-brainer.”
On their first listen of Wilt’s version, Remo Drive were thrilled with how the band re-contextualized the song. “The added layers of distortion and reconstruction of the main riff sound fantastic! Vocalist Chelsea Rifkin’s voice is always killer, we love how she opens it up at the end.”
Inspired by their contribution to singer-songwriter Samia’s ‘The Baby: Reimagined’ – a project of covers and remixes of the indie artist’s 2020 record – Remo Drive found this form of collaboration a fun and genuine way to connect with artists they admire and new fans. “We asked Wilt to be a part of the deluxe because we really enjoyed touring with them on the Mercy Tour,” Erik notes. “Stephen first heard them on Tik Tok and was hit by how well constructed the songs were. They are great songwriters and producers and perform everything with loads of personality.”
Introducing a major sonic departure from records of Remo past, Mercy is less indebted to the emo and pop punk that foregrounded the duo’s career and instead invested in thorny, baroque indie pop by way of Father John Misty and Fleet Foxes. A collection of the band’s most lyric-focused work yet, the band thrived under the guidance of legendary Seattle-based producer, Phil Ek (The Shins, Band Of Horses) who helped bring their new ideas to life in the span of ten days. “It was refreshing to work with Phil,” says Erik Paulson, “It made music feel like how it did when we were younger. He was like fuck it, let’s go, let’s have fun.”
Mercy Deluxe Tracklisting
- Please, Please Be Smart
- I Find Trouble
- All You’ll Ever Catch
- White Dress
- Mercy
- Makin’ Muzak
- Houseplant
- No There’s No Hope For You
- New In Town
- Hold You
- Mercy (Field Medic Version)
- No There’s No Hope For You (Boyish Version)
- White Dress (Caleb Lee Hutchinson Version)
- Please, Please Be Smart (Wilt Version)
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