Fresh off of their spirited collaboration earlier this year on Secretly Canadian’s underrated Saint Bartlett, the dream team of Richard Swift and Damien Jurado are clearly keeping busy and having tons of fun along the way with Other People’s Songs. A deliciously eccentric covers record offered entirely for free via a freshly minted tumblr page, in their own words, “these recordings came about spontaneously, and we wanted to share them in the same manner.” Emitting the same warm, dust-kicking camaraderie found on their initial jaunt, Other People’s Songs is a collection of love letters to pop’s past containing the same quirky, offbeat vitality found in the best of either of these guys’ work. Featuring a whimsical array of songs from artists as disparate and far-ranging as Bill Fray, Yes, John Denver, Chubby Checker and Kraftwerk, these two clearly have not only a vast, encyclopedic knowledge of the music they love, but a firm grasp on what makes it great and how to convey that through singular, entertaining reinterpretations. This one is not to be missed. Dig it.
