Singer Julia Holter released an old cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” to streaming services via Domino Recording Co. According to Holter’s statement on it, it was a home recording from 2012 made for a Mojo special on Fleetwood Mac.
“I always wanted to make this cover available officially.” Holter said, “The propulsive dark vibe of this song was appealing and I think the raw energy of my recording captures an exhilarated moment in time for me, in which I was about to start touring, playing my own music for the first time.”
The cover is a spacey ambient rendition of the classic tune, with vocals and piano chords suspended in reverb over a subtly propulsive bass rhythm. It’s not only stripped back compared to the original, but comparatively to her album from that same year, Ekstasis, which has a lush progressive pop sound.
Fleetwood Mac’s original already had a similar hypnotic nocturnal atmosphere, but instead of dreamy piano chords, had a twangy guitar complimenting a bluesy Southern feel to Stevie Nicks’ vocals. “Gold Dust Woman” is the closer on Fleetwood Mac’s hit-laden 1977 album, Rumours, finding company with songs like “Go Your Own Way,” “The Chain,” and “Dreams.”
Holter began releasing music in 2007, but didn’t find much success until 2011’s experimental pop work Tragedy. She has continued to become much more popular since 2013’s Loud City Song, 2015’s Have You In My Wilderness, and 2018’s maximalist double album, Aviary. Like she said in her statement, 2012 was a transitional time right before she really made it big as an artist.
Recently, Holter made the score for the 2020 motion picture Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which also features a new song from Sharon Van Etten. In March, Holter appeared on the rework for one of rock singer Anna Calvi’s songs, called “Swimming Pool,” as part of full rework album.
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