Whitehorse – “Go It Alone” (Beck cover) (video) (premiere)

Fresh on the heels of their excellent third studio album Leave No Bridge Unburned (which has since been long-listed for the Polaris Prize) Canadian folk rock duo Whitehorse have recorded a special treat for fans in the form of a live cover of Beck’s 2005 tune “Go It Alone”. Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland are perfectly suited for the gently funky tune, their dynamic showing through as they loop their instruments and sing lead vocals together.

“‘Guero’ is one of our favourite records and I’ve always thought this would be a great song to cover,” McClelland tells PopMatters. “It’s hooky and straight-forward and works perfectly for our looping station. To be honest, we had been slaving over the lyrics the night before trying to make sure we memorized every syllable, and when we walked into the bar for the shoot we had yet to perform the song together (or alone, for that matter!). After some messing around with arrangements, ideas and guitar sounds we tried it out and got it on the second take. This is video is one shot, no overdubs and recorded through the house speakers by our sound engineer Jameson Elliott. Enjoy… and Happy Birthday Beck! A true artist in every sense of the word.”

“This is us fumbling our way through Beck’s ‘Go It Alone’ for the first time,” adds Doucet. “We’ve never played it live, although this recording/performance is live in the ‘we played it all the way through as is’ sense. Beck has a way of blending the flow of post-Millennial smart ass with a sense of earnestness and commitment to rhythmic bad-assery that is challenging to emulate. Pat the head; Rub the belly. Repeat.”

Leave No Bridge Unburned is out now.