Nightcall

Album: If You Wait (2013)
Charted: 53
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a cover of a song originally recorded in 2010 by the French Electro-House artist Kavinsky, which was a #10 hit in his native country but didn't get much attention elsewhere. The original is also sung in English but is underscored by an electronic beat and has two voices, with Kavinsky's distorted vocals singing the verses and the female singer Lovefoxxx on the chorus. The two voices represent a dialogue between the male character, who is now a zombie, and his still-human girlfriend, but the only reason we know this is because Kavinsky fleshed-out the story in interviews.

    The London Grammar version replaces the electronic elements with piano and uses one voice throughout: lead singer Hannah Reid. This changes the meaning but keeps the haunting vibe. Their version was a hit in their native UK, going to #53 when it was released in 2013.
  • Kavinsky's original version was used in the title sequence for the Ryan Gosling-starring hit movie Drive.
  • London Grammar's version is on their debut album, If You Wait. Dan Rothman of the band told Digital Spy: "We sort of did it by accident. We were in the studio and thinking of doing a cover for our EP and our producer came out and was like, 'Let's do 'Nightcall.'' We love the song and knew it quite well."

    His colleague Dot Major added: "It's completely live. Obviously the beat's been added at the end, but the piano, vocal and guitar was just one live take."

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