Blonde Redhead’s first album in nine years, 2023’s Sit Down for Dinner, was a feat, offering a deeply hypnotic blend of calm and dread. Before they hit the road supporting Bloc Party on tour, they’ve announced a reimagining of that LP called The Shadow of the Guest (out June 27 via section1).
Acting as a surreal companion piece, the project taps the Brooklyn Youth Chorus for several songs, including “Before (Choir Version),” which is out today. “They inspire me to do better, and I hope to sing with them one day live!” vocalist Kazu Makino gushes. There’s also ASMR remakes and a mariachi-driven rendition of their Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons cut “For the Damaged Coda.”
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“The album started as a soundtrack that I produced for my closest buddy Isabel Marant’s fashion show,” Makino says. “I often play her my early demos and things that I am making, and I told her I want to make ASMR using parts and fragments of our songs. It was such a great musical exercise for me. She came with me to the studio in Paris, wrote phrases in French, and we had a good laugh at my pronunciation. This is an important release for us. They are not just a rendition of the latest but a longtime dream that finally came true.”
Of the single, Makino adds, “‘Before’ was written with a choir in mind. I wrote it for kids and the POV of children, and I said so when I met them for the first time. I don’t know if they took it literally by the time we recorded, but they truly owned the song as if they wrote it. That’s pretty remarkable.”
Blonde Redhead – The Shadow of the Guest tracklist
- “Rest of Her Life” (Choir Version)
- “Before” (Choir Version)
- “Via Savona” (Choir Version)
- “Coda” (Choir Version)
- “Kiss Her Before The Snow Melts” (ASMR)
- “Good Morning Sunshine” (ASMR)
- “Good Night Til Tomorrow” (ASMR)
- “Oda a Coda”