BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge sessions can go either way.
Sometimes, it’s a home for completely unexpected treats (Lily Allen’s cover of The Kooks’ ‘Naive’, for instance), but in the past it’s been hard to shake that smug “polishing a turd” feel you get when dullards like Elbow “improve” on chart pop songs by people like Rihanna.
Bat for Lashes, of course, is far from a dullard, so it piqued our interest when we heard that the Haunted Man starlet had covered Rihanna’s undeniable ‘We Found Love’ on a recent session. Lashes’ cover doesn’t come close to the whirlwind romance of Rihanna’s original, but then it doesn’t try to: it’s a moody, slow cover that instrumentally, reminds us a little of Mogwai.
UK users can check the session here; US users will have to wait for the inevitable YouTube rip. Update: here you go: