POP-OFFICE Cover Sparklehorse, Neil Young

This isn’t the first time Nagoya’s POP-OFFICE have covered a song…but these two latest renditions highlight what they do so well better than what they’ve done. First, they take out Sparklehorse’s “Gold Day,” itself an understated, sadness-tinged number that’s best described as very pretty sounding but with a frown hidden deep within. Well, POP-OFFICE blow the track open. They’ve always been a band leaning towards the loud, and the original’s lazy afternoon vibe gets replaced with a fuzzier atmosphere. Oh, and then they tear it off and totally transform this into their own by dropping in wrecking guitar solo, which ups the drama significantly.

Save for that snarlin’ guitar, “Gold Day” still resembles the original pretty closely. Not so much with their take on Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” which takes the eyes-down hop of the original and turns it into a lurching number that’s less friend reassurance and more…unsettling. And then, after a spacious take on the chorus, it turns into something worthy of the tag shoegaze. Get it here, or listen below.