17. January 2022 By Walter Price 0

NEW MONDAY! ERIKA GRAPES has MAZZY STAR Into Dust, covered

Erika Grapes Into Dust is available at Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music.

There was a time in my life when Mazzy Star’s ‘So Tonight That I Might See’ cassette was stuck in my housemate’s (R.I.P.) ancient Peugeot’s tapedeck. So, to say that this LP soundtracked copious memories of red wine-stained, stoned-out trips through the winding forest roads of the Hill Country would be of the utmost understatements. As we pondered life, love, and lyrics and waxed poetic about things we certainly couldn’t understand at the time, Hope Sandoval’s melancholy laments wafted in the background, providing all the ambiance we could ever hope for.

This is now, and one of the indelible deep cuts from that hallowed album, “Into Dust“, seems to reaffirm it’s losing yourself in someone else’s orbit or elsewhere vibes once more. This time in a delicate dreamscape cover version from Italian vocalist Erika Grapes.

In a lengthy and intimate Facebook post, Grapes reflects, “All things end and disintegrate, at some point. Even those which we would have considered to be eternal. And when that happens, in those painful – eternally painful – moments and episodes, our very souls and eyes seem to turn into dust too.

“I decided to release my cover version of this sad sad song on this year’s “Blue Monday”, that will fall exactly one week from now, on January 17th. Blue Monday is considered to be the saddest day of the year. A moment far from celebrations and jubilee, where the heaviness of what is and what is missing breaks the veil of silence.

“When me and producer Andrea Del Miglio first decided to make an electronic, downtempo version of this beautiful gem written by Hope Sandoval for her Mazzy Star, I instinctively imagined it as white, and to me, white is the colour of January, that’s why it’s going to be released on this month.

“I hope that you will feel it, no matter your current mood.”

Erika Grapes has a history of adding her ethereal breath to her respectful versions of classic, at times dark, pop songs, and this one is as personal and nearing mystical as they come. An absolute beautiful result and you can stream “Into Dust” as well as Grapes’ take on Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand”, now at the GTC.