This month sees the release of Saint Saviour’s first single. She’s the lead singer in a suitably hip young band called the RGBs (you can tell they’re hip because the publicity photo features keytars). The song has been playlisted by Radio 1 and championed by Rob Da Bank and the NME. Add to this production ties to Groove Armada and recent appearances at Glastonbury and Lovebox and you could be forgiven for thinking: “Why are they telling us about this?”
Well, they have made an all-too common mistake, sorry, decision, of thinking that covering Joy Division will lend them gravitas, not realising that in many cases in the past, that once played the track has gone off like a football shaped cluster mine when kicked by a young lad, leaving nothing but broken dreams and a horrible pink mist in the air where a pair of legs used to be.
To compound matters – they’ve only gone and chosen ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ – a song that not even New Order can play without making it sound like ‘Agadoo’. But there may be more to the young singer than her certifiable choice of cover version suggests.
A sparse but noble piano line is the only accompaniment that Saint Saviour (Becky to her mam) has and needs for that matter. She has a voice entirely serious enough for tackling the job it must be said – just the right amount of vibrato to place her somewhere equidistant between Tori Amos and Maria Callas.
Well, journalistic hubris aside, you can always make up your own mind.
But that brings us to all the other clowns who think they can cover Joy Division (and one or two who excel themselves). Put Mr Young against the wall! Deny Mr Owen his last cigarette! Remove Mr Kerr’s blindfold! Ready! Aim! Fire! Scroll down to click through the gallery of YouTube Joy Division covers.
