Kim Wilde has released many songs during her career. Some of them have been covered by other artists. On Cover Friday, Wilde Life presents cover versions of Kim Wilde songs. This week: Sômbre.
'Kids in America' has been covered over 100 times, so when you attempt to record another cover version, you better try and add something that previous offerings haven't. The French band Sômbre seem to have been successful on that front.
Axel Wursthorn and Cédric Manine formed Sômbre in 2011 and released their debut EP 'Half light' in 2012. The compositions of the duo are influenced by the post-punk and cold-wave of the 80's (Joy Division, Killing Joke, The Chameleons, the first Dead Can Dance) mixed with a ton of such influences as David Bowie, Ligeti, Radiohead, as well as EBM and jungle beats.
In 2018, and after several years of writing, the first album of Sômbre is finished. It includes among others a duet with Regina Sosinski (Mira) and a very personal cover of 'Kids in America'. When you listen to their version, you will be quite astonished to find that the chorus is actually slower than the rest of the song, which adds to the tangible tension already felt in the slightly symphonic backing track.
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