Unequivocally one of our favorite singer-songwriter-producers to emerge in the past handful of years, Jordan Rakei has curated the latest installment of the beloved Late Night Tales compilation series, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
Slated for an April 9th release and featuring songs from a talented crop of kindred musical spirits including Alfa Mist, Fink and Charlotte Day Wilson, the 18-track collection features an exclusive new track from Rakei himself (“Imagination”), a new collaborative composition with Moreton (“Count A Heart”) and a pair of intriguing covers (Radiohead’s “Codex” and Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over”).
Originally featured on Buckley’s debut album Grace (1994), the latter reimagining finds Rakei paying reverential tribute to the late songsmith whose death from a drowning accident in 1997 tragically cut his life and then-ascendant career short, while leaving a massive void in the world of music. When we interviewed Rakei back in 2017 in conjunction with the release of his second studio album Wallflower (2017), the multi-instrumentalist cited Grace as one of his five favorite albums of all time.
“I wanted to try and showcase as many people as I knew on this mix,” Rakei says of the Late Night Tales project in an official statement. “My idea of Late Night Tales was to distill a series of relaxing moments; the whole conceptual sonic of relaxation. So, I was trying to think of all the collaborators and friends that I knew, who’d recorded stuff with this horizontal vibe. Plus, I was also trying to help my friends' stuff get into the world. I know the story of Khruangbin blowing up after appearing on the series (in fact, I think that's how I discovered them). So, the main idea was to create a certain atmosphere, but also to help some of my favourite collaborators and buddies to give their songs a little push out into the world. Hope you like it.”
Listen to Rakei’s sublime rendition of “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” and Buckley’s special live performance of his original version below.
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