We are catching up with reality this week, as we give a spotlight to the latest single released by the art rocker Jan Linton last week while we were distracted by a computer that sucked down several days of my time. While I am always happy to see new Jan Linton music, this one was a surprising cover version of a deep cut from Scott Walker’s third album, “Rosemary.” This was a one-band band event, with the exception of Andy Tsoi, who applied Autotune/Voice Tweaker.

I know, I know. We just raked OMD over hot coals for diluting the power of Andy McCluskey’s voice with an avalanche of FX on their last album, but the touch here was light. Closer to a chorus effect on certain verses for emphasis. While few artists can out-sing Scott Walker, Linton maintained respect for Walker’s insouciant phrasing of the complex melody, which was written to contrast strongly with the typically dark and embittered lyric.

The biggest news here was the vibe to the music bed, which was more than happy to vary from the decidedly MOR romanticism of the original. Portentous choral patches recalled the sense of dread [yet crucially not overplayed here] from “The Electrician,” while snare tattoos and kickdrum hits advanced the song forward with military precision. We still have the string patches that recalled the original arrangement buried lower in the mix here along french horn and piano that opened up the cover’s soundstage from the strictly strings and subdued guitar and drums of the original.

As the song began to rush towards its climax in the middle eight, violin glissandos crackled through it with electric intensity as rolling tympani signaled the retreat of the instrumentation; giving Linton a graceful exit as the drums and strings receded into the shadows from whence they came. Hear the glory for yourself.

This is available on Bandcamp currently for a scant $1.00, but you can pay more than that, right? It will eventually see release on a Linton release mooted as “Strange Effect Extended Play” but we’ll cross that bridge when its lowered. I see commenter schwenko has wisely purchased in advance of discussing this, so why not join him in the pleasure of a great Scott Walker cover version? It’s always the right time to hear one of those. D.J. hit that button.

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