Suicide Squeeze celebrates Chastity Belt with the latest in its split 7″ single series–a pair of covers by Friends of the Band and tourmates Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett. For this release, Kurt and Courtney each recorded a song from the band’s third album, 2017’s “I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone”, in their signature styles. Side K is Kurt’s version of “This Time of Night,” on which he lovingly recreates the anxious interplay of Julia Shapiro and Lydia Lund’s guitars, stretching each note of the song’s fraught vocal melody to its breaking point.
Says Kurt Vile of this Chastity Belt cover: “When I first met Chastity Belt it was Halloween 2015 in Amsterdam and they were all wearing pointy elf ears. I joke with them that ever since I saw them with those pointy ears I knew… but what? Maybe that we were soul mates! I missed their set that night but we had alotta fun anyways… A couple yrs later I heard a joint interview / podcast with Julia (of Chazzy) and Courtney (Barnett!) and then I immediately played Chazzy’s latest album: “I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone”. It hit me hard right away… So catchy but with lyrics both hilarious while true to life… sad and beautiful all at once… nostalgic hooks, great songs.”
Flip the record to Side C for Courtney’s take on “Different Now,” where she pulls the song from its Pacific Northwest haze, leaves it out to dry in the middle of the desert, and wrings something almost joyous from the original’s ambiguity. “This Time of Night” / “Different Now” will be available on vinyl and digital platforms, with a one-time retail vinyl pressing limited to 1500 (250 pink, 250 black, 1000 blue) copies on heavyweight vinyl.
The Fat Angel Sings 