Alt-rock singer-songwriter and former guitarist for Queens of the Stone Age Mark Lanegan has unveiled a truly dark cover of “Nobody Home” from Magnetic Eye Records’ upcoming project The Wall [Redux], a cover album of Pink Floyd’s album of the same name with “artists from across the heavy music landscape.”
The original Pink Floyd ballad was already distinctly isolating and lonely, but Lanegan invokes an even deeper sense of fragility. The singer’s melancholy-inducing voice remains plaintive over the spare instrumentation of frequent musical partner Alain Johannes.
The album was produced following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Set to be released on November 9th, the tribute record has 26 different bands to each cover exactly one song from the original record. Mark Lanegan is only one of the 26, of which some notable artists include Melvins, Pallbearer, Mars Red Sky, ASG, Summoner, and Low Flying Hawks.
Three songs have been made available from the album so far, including “When Tiger’s Broke Free” by Year of the Cobra, “Run Like Hell” by Pallbearer, and now Lanegan’s “Nobody Home.”
According to a press release, he was particularly invited to take on “Nobody Home,” as the curators of the project felt its lyrical sensibility was a perfect fit for the singer’s own.
“I am a fan of early Pink Floyd and late period Floyd but was never really into the really famous records in between,” Lanegan says in response to a question about his own appreciation of the band. “Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets and More were my jams. And in the late ’80s I enjoyed A Momentary Lapse in Reason and even The Division Bell from ’94.
“But honestly it’s the two Syd Barrett solo records that to me are true genius, and if I were going to listen to any Floyd-related tunes that would be it. The Wall is a work of undeniable greatness, an unparalleled work of art. There are so many fantastic songs that it’s practically a greatest hits record. But I’ll be damned if I know what its contemporary relevance is. That’s above my pay grade.”
Check out the cover on the Quietus here.
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