King Hannah have released a cover of Madonna’s classic ‘Like a Prayer’.
“We wanted to take this Madonna song and really let it breathe with lots of space and sparse instrumentation that slowly and subtly builds,” the duo explained. “The delicate arrangement of pulsing synths and scratchy guitars allows Hannah’s voice to take centre stage until the track eventually (in the extended version) breaks out into a noisy instrumental section fuelled by thrashing drums and distorted guitars. We wanted to take a song by such an iconic artist and drag it into the world of King Hannah.”
King Hannah’s cover opens austerely, as the original does, but at a slower pace. There’s a pulsating organ under lead singer Hannah Merrick’s voice. They rearrange the verses so they are at the front of the song and so Merrick doesn’t get to the chorus until 90 seconds into the song. It’s only at this point that muted guitar and percussion begins to creep into the mix. At about 2:20, a full band takes shape around her and the organ, and the song opens up. The song and the mix build and then nearly everything cuts out with about 30 seconds left, with Merrick’s voice and organ cutting out entirely at the end, resulting in a much shorter song than the original. It’s almost funereal and an entirely different vibe from the celebratory original.
But that’s not what happens in the extended version. In the full version, it takes a little longer for the band to come in and the band doesn’t drop out until about the 4 and a half minute mark. Then it’s just Merrick’s voice and the organ again until they both drop out about half a minute later. And then, after a beat of silence, the jam kicks in, complete with guitar solo. It’s particularly fun listening to the extended version after the short version, as the jam is extra unexpected.
Both versions are fairly radical re-thinkings of the song, though the extended version is all the more so.
Next month, King Hannah will be touring the UK with Kurt Vile. Their debut album, “I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me”, was released last year.
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