Davis,Kate - Strange Boy (Deep Blue Vinyl LP+MP3) (Sealed) (LP)

TRACKLISTING: 1. Make God Your Boyfriend 2. I'll Do Anything But Breakdance For Ya, Darling 3. Loveless Friend 4. Bye Bye Barbie 5. You Are Going To Die Alone 6. Fighting With Myself 7. The End Of Your Life 8. Too Young To Die 9. Is That Cheesy? 10. This Song 11. One Of Her Depressing Playlists 12. Feels Good 13. Licking Baby George 14. Oh No 15. He Can Really Rock 16. Strange Boy 17. If My Ears Were Better And I Could Understand The Words 18. True Love Will Find You In The End LP FORMAT DETAILS: 12” Colour Sleeve, Deep Blue 12” Vinyl, Download Card OVERVIEW: • Strange Boy is Kate Davis covering Daniel Johnston’s Retired Boxer • Kate Davis is partnering with Daniel Johnston's charity, Hi, How Are You Project, to release the cover • A portion of the royalties will be going to the charity which supports conversation and education around Mental Health. • Hi, How Are You Project to put on livestream concert for World Mental Health Day that features Kate Davis, Jeff Tweedy, Lucius, Bully, Molly Burch and many others • Kate Davis deut release 'Trophy' was released last year to critical acclaim: NPR's Top 15 Rock Albums of 2019, Bandcamp's Best Releases of 2019, Pitchfork, Forbes, Billboard reviews • Kate Davis co-wrote Sharon Van Etten's "Seventeen" • Kate Davis performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk earlier this year • As a young jazz singer and bassist, Kate Davis shared the stage with Herbie Hancock, Ben Folds, Alison Kraus and the actor-turned-musician Jeff Goldblum. But in 2018 she decided to switch lanes. • “When I first heard Daniel Johnston I was struck by the directness and clarity in his writing,” Davis says. “I wanted to gain perspective into that directness.” This coming January, in collaboration with the Hi, How Are You Project, a non-profit organization that provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and education on mental well-being, Davis will release Strange Boy, a unique rendering that is named after the eighth song on Johnston’s original masterpiece. As a homage to that original song — which begins with a three-minute recording of a man telling a story about meeting Johnston for the first time — Davis placed recordings of her own friends sharing memories that they have of Johnston as interludes between each of the nine songs on her new album. Most of the voices have been sped up to give the impression of someone fastforwarding through a cassette tape. It’s a neat touch that adds both color and humor to the work. Davis also put her own spin on the music, adding fuzzy psychedelic tones and warm rock and roll textures that position the cover album alongside her highly coveted indie rock debut, Trophy. That album featured on Bandcamp’s Best Albums of 2019 list and led to Davis performing an NPR Tiny Desk concert in August. “My main objective was to echo his original spirit,” Davis says of her process. “Overall, the project gave me a lot of wiggle room when it came to using keyboards, vocal effects and making other arrangement decisions. It encouraged me to push and stretch myself musically.” Davis has jumped between styles before: she grew up playing jazz in Oregon before crossing the country in 2009 to attend the Manhattan School of Music. She performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, all before diving head first into her current career as an immaculately polished indie rock star. It’s no surprise, then, that her interpretation of Retired Boxer expands on what Johnston made in the 1980s. Davis’ cover of “I'll Do Anything But Breakdance For Ya, Darling,” turns Johnston’s original rickety piano composition into a rousing indie rock song. Synths and a simple drum beat arrive midway through and burst open like an asteroid. “I was trying to convey the feelings of unrequited love, and all the messiness of the emotions that are so effortlessly and plainly stated in the song,” Davis says. “The breakdance reference is, to me, very funny.” She describes Johnston’s “Oh No” as a brain-melting song, and says it was especially fun to pick it apart and create a different treatment. “I love the song because of its lyrical eccentricities,” she says. “It ended up feeling heavier and in some ways more frenetic,” Davis continues, understating just how much pep she has added to the song. It’s here where Davis begins to stray from Johnson’s orbit and enter her own world. “Strange Boy,” which immediately follows “Oh No,” is a 56-second CBGB-style punk banger. True acolytes will know that Retired Boxer contains one of Johnston’s most beloved songs: “True Love Will Find You in the End.” It’s been covered by Beck, Wilco, Peach Kelli Pop, and hundreds of other diehard Johnston stans, and Davis admits that it presented a unique challenge. “I wanted to keep it sparse, but also keep it in the same sonic landscape as the rest of the record,” she says. She certainly overcame that challenge. Her voice, holding steady in the breeze, searches for the same light that Johnston could see off in the distance. For decades, the song has been a salve for anyone suffering from a broken heart. Here it also serves to bring us closer in this moment of despair. PRESS/ONLINE: • "Kate Davis is one of my favorite singers today" - Sharon Van Etten • "A clever and heartfelt indie rock debut" – Pitchfork • "My new favorite discovery is Kate Davis" - NPR's All Songs Considered (Top 15 Rock Album of 2019 & 2020 Slingshot Artist) • "A soft, rolling number with daydreaming guitar lines tumbling over the steady snap of a snare" - Consequence of Sound • "A powerful album in its own right, one that examines our relationship with desire, and what we’ll do to satisfy it." – Bandcamp • 23 New Songs Out Today - Brooklyn Vegan • "Davis’ Trophy is essential listening for 2019 and beyond" – Forbes • The Line of Best Fit, HypeMachine, Billboard, Mojo Magazine, Paste Magazie, All Music, For The Rabbits, The Wild Honey Pie RADIO: • KCRW, WXPN, BBC6 Lauren Laverne LIVE: • Sold Out Shows in 2020: PinUps (London), Monarch (Berlin) • Other headline shows in 2020: The Prince Albert (Brighton, UK), Gullivers NQ (Manchester, UK), De Gudde Wellen (Luxembourg), 1999 (Paris, FR), Trefount (Gent, BE), Roodkapje (Rotterdam, NL), VEGA (Copenhagen, DN),