Covered Up: Shearwater and Sharon Van Etten - "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"

Shearwater & Sharon Van Etten – “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks)

Record Store Day 7”, 2013

After listening to Shearwater’s “Rooks” for the last entry, I got Shearwater on the brain, so I might as well talk about how great their cover (with the impeccable Sharon Van Etten) of Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks’ “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Shearwater abandon all the lovely, ornate elements of their usual sound for the ballsy swagger of Tom Petty and Van Etten takes a little sandpaper to her lovely vocal chords to affect a worthy, sultry Stevie Nicks tribute. Meiburg even tones down his melodramatic (I say that lovingly) quavering vocals to inject the song with a certain amount of testosterone that his vocals usually do not bring to the table. What I love about this cover is that it’s taken from the AV Club’s Undercover series, and I always thought they should compile those covers into a compilation every season because some are jawdroppingly perfect and I’ve discovered so many bands (via the performers and songs covered alike) that, goddamnit, they deserve a better audience than the AV Club can provide. This season they practically buried the Undercover series and I am particularly bothered by that. ANYWAY, this cover, fantastic. Off the cuff, raw as hell, and accurate and we can talk about Sharon Van Etten’s gravitas all damn day (I’ve put off writing about her latest—Are We There—because my love for that album grows a little more every time I hear it). The b-side features another collaboration between Shearwater and Van Etten in a lovely original—“A Wake for the Minotaur”—whose hushed glory captures the true sensibilities of both artists.

Shearwater - "Rooks" 7"

Shearwater – “Rooks” 7”

Matador, 2008

Acquired: Love Garden, New, 2008

Price: $4

When “Rooks” was made available for download in advance of Shearwater’s fifth LP Rook, I listened to it ceaselessly. It’s a gorgeous, sinister, haunting track. I vividly remember Tiny Mixtapes scathing review of the album, which hinged upon Shearwater sounding exactly like Talk Talk and that was grounds for outright dismissal. Which was annoying, but I know I’ve done it once or twice so whatever. Personally, I loved that record, and its quasi-title track was a big reason for that. I saw Shearwater play songs from the record two or three times at SXSW that year and later in Lawrence when they toured. I haven’t been as diligent with their last few albums, but I still have a great affinity for Jonathan Meiburg and his craft. The performance on “Rooks” is so tightly coiled it almost feels uncomfortable. There’s a tension wrapped up in the hypnotic guitar line that, the heart-gripping menace of the bass, and all the weird stuff Thor Harris was getting up to. The song builds through its first couple verses and casually explodes into horns and chanting without ever losing control. It feels organic and drives right through you and, just like that, it’s over. Maybe that’s why I listened to it on end. It’s fashioned in such a way to be a few seconds short of just long enough. The b-side is a Talk Talk cover, which is more of an experimental clattering of percussion and dissonant guitar tones than a song. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard a Talk Talk song, so I can’t speak to the band’s influence on Rooks, and considering how much I love that album, I’m thinking I should probably keep it that way.

"Rooks"