Hear Aarktica’s dreamy cover of Chameleons’ “Second Skin”
On Oct. 10, Aarktica, the long-running post-rock project helmed by Jon DeRosa, will release new album Ecstatic Lightsongs via HanaqPacha Records. Today, Aarktica shares a new single from the album, the closing track “Second Skin,” which is a cover of the classic post-punk track by Chameleons. However, DeRosa takes it into a dreamier lullaby realm, giving it a blissfully hazy production and gorgeously graceful arrangement. Hear it below.
DeRosa shared a statement about the song:
“Of all the post-punk bands of the 1980’s, The Chameleons are among the most melodic and the most intense. They wrote complex melodies and had a unique interplay between parts that give their songs a depth that not many of their contemporaries possessed. I had wanted to cover this song of theirs, in particular, for years. I recorded it outside of the Ecstatic Lightsongs sessions with my longtime colleague and friend Charles Newman (Cottage Sounds), who has produced several of my eponymous albums and with whom I’ve recorded soundtracks for various films.
“My initial vision for this song was a very sparse piano/vocal version with some more ambient elements that would develop over the course of the song. But the song is so long, it just sounded very tedious, so we developed an arrangement that continues to build and has quite a bit more in terms of layers. Charles built the arrangement and enlisted Frank Bell in NYC to play the cello part. I recorded the guitars and vocals at Charles’ Cottage Sounds studio in LA.
“I grew up on darkwave, goth, post-punk, and though I went on to make a lot of ambient-influenced music with Aarktica, I always felt that it had a post-punk spirit, that that’s where my roots were. In a way, it’s like coming full circle to be able to include a song like this on an Aarktica album.”
Aarktica Ecstatic Lightsongs tracklist:
1. Trick of the Light
2. To Love is To Believe
3. Why Say Anything?
4. Ecstatic Light Transmission
5. Destination Paradise
6. Cloud Formations
7. The Bird That Hides Itself
8. Laughing in the Rain
9. Second Skin
