Last year, I questioned whether a number of covers I planned would make a congruous album. Well, I went ahead and recorded a few of them, and I discovered they indeed sounded all right.
Now that I’m done with the Japanese cover album, I’m going ahead with the English language cover album. Here’s the track list (this information was previously posted, crossed-out tracks are done):

  1. Duran Duran’s "Planet Earth" straight-forward with lyrics in Japanese
  2. Bruce Robison’s "Wrapped" in the style of U2’s "Stories for Boys"
  3. Gabby Pahinui’s "Moonlight Lady" in the style of a shoegazer band
  4. Yvonne Elliman’s "Hello Stranger" as played on a toy keyboard.
  5. Linda Ronstadt’s "Hurts So Bad" in the style of Garbage.
  6. Janet Jackson’s "Miss You Much" in the style of Alice in Chains
  7. The System’s "Don’t Disturb This Groove" in the style of Sam Amidon and Nico Muhly.
  8. Leonard Cohen’s "Hallelujah" performed with a string quartet
  9. Neutral Milk Hotel’s "The Fool" as an a capella piece.
  10. Roberta Flack’s "The Closer I Get to You" in the style of Explosions in the Sky and mono.
  11. Robin Holcomb’s "So Straight and Slow", straight-forward


The music for the first half is done, but the vocals have yet to be recorded. Where the Japanese-language cover album is more of a karaoke deal, this album takes far more liberties with the source material.
For the "Wrapped" cover, I changed the chord progressions to sound more U2 than Bruce Robison. I’m also experimenting more with the drums. I usually use my KORG N364 as a rhythm section, but for a few tracks, I used Reason’s Redrum processed with some effects. On the Linda Ronstadt cover, I finally ventured into using hip-hop loops with the Dr.Rex loop constructor.
I wasn’t sure what I’d get out of recording covers, but it has been instructive. Following the instrumentation of the original on the Japanese cover album gave me a bit more insight on how to make my drum parts sound slightly less mechanical, while the English-language album allowed me to branch out and to use sounds and effects I hadn’t yet employed.
I think maybe this experience is what I needed to get me more inspired to make new Eponymous 4 material.