Avid Dancer – Under the Covers

Refresh your vintage music memory bank with the recently released Under The Covers compilation; which is chock full of some very amazing classic covers from B3 fave singer-songwriter talent Avid Dancer (a.k.a. Jacob Summers). This is an epically good compilation and one of the best indie cover albums we have heard in years! We are impressed by HONNE’s terrific selection of classic tunes; from his sublimely-sunny nicely-understated hip and current sensitive-guy cover of Doors classic “Light My Fire”; to his rock solid vintage-vibe take on Kinks tune “Tired of Waiting”; to his subtle melodic-guitar-infused folk-vibe acoustic Elliot Smith wonder “Angel In the Snow”. Throw on top of that a far-out spacey, screechy electric-guitar-riffing indie-dance instrumental rip of 80’s-vintage Wang Chung hit “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” (which has an excellent quietly-electrifying slow-burner build-up to the epic chorus that we dig). We also really like the duo’s warpy-psychedelic bongo-infused cover of Curtis Mayfield classic “Move On Up” and his hazy reverb-y Queens of the Stone Age cover of “Make it Wit’ Chu”. In addition (last but not least) we also totally love Summers’s near perfect true-to-form cover of Tears For Fears’ 80’s epic “Mad World” (he slows down the original tempo and turns it from a broody vintage new-wave ballad into something quite amazing and even a bit Neil Young). The very catchy “Mad World” is our pic for the best of the bunch for its awesome sing-along qualities. We are enamored with the LA-based Alaskan’s outstanding production vision and versatile on-point vocals on the album and fully recommend Under The Covers. Dynamite album. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Reviewed by

Erin Shay