The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has released a cover of James‘ song “Laid” today. This is the first song they share from their new EP, “Hell”, out 13November on their own label, Painbow. The EP features 3 songs, – the title track “Hell”, this cover of James, and maybe most interesting, a cover of Felt‘s “Ballad of the Band”.

I am not really sure what I think of the James-cover. I really want to like it, but they make it hard for me. One of the main reasons I like TPoBPaH, is Kip’s vocals and his lovely melodies. They are not present here at all. The vocals are done by Jen Goma from A Sunny Day in Glasgow, who also did some vocals on the band’s latest album, so that in itself makes it very different from other The Pains of Being Pure at Heart songs.

It’s also one of my least favourite James-songs, and I used to like James a lot back in their more golden days. James have so many good songs they could have covered, and they chose the most boring song… Am I too negative?
I think it needs a few more listens here. What do you think?

Here is the original from James:

And here is Felt‘s lovely “Ballad of the Band”: