Canadian Dreamweavers PICASTRO Cover THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
10 January 2022
Band: PICASTRO
Who: A musical project that started in Toronto in 1998
and has continued on in many forms with various members.
Picastro has existed as a musical entity for a long time, too
weird to be a pop band, too many songs to be considered
experimental.
New EP: I’VE NEVER MET A STRANGER
Containing covers of The Velvet Underground, The Silt,
Richard Dawson, Fire on Fire, and Elfin Saddle tracks.
“All the songs were chosen based on their lyrical content starting from
Pale Blue Eyes “sometimes I feel so happy, sometimes I feel so sad” at
the start of the pandemic, running to Richard Dawson’s “Man’s been
struck down by hands unseen”.
(Artwork by Victor Gáspari)
TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite: PALE BLUE EYES
Although countless artists have covered/cover one or more songs from eternal legends The Velvet Underground, not many succeed(ed) in doing it with the same mystique and spell that made the NYC mavericks such a special and influential band. But here we have
a winner. Why?
Picastro‘s piano driven version transferred me immediately to starry-eyed la-la land.
It’s less minimalistic in execution than the original and works in all his magnificence
all the way. Then there’s the grand voice of Liz Hysen (who also plays the piano here)
floating somewhere between Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval twilight timbre and Cocteau Twins’s Elizabeth Fraser magic touch. Bewitching, just bewitching.
Dim the lights, close your eyes and enjoy this beauty…
.
Don’t go away yet, keep on dreaming
while listening the full EP…
.
PICASTRO: Facebook
(Info/images via Cannonball PR)
