It’s a nice day for an Angel Olsen cover, and thankfully, the singer has shared her new take on Billy Idol‘s “Eyes Without a Face.” Stream it below.
For her cover version, the indie rocker reinvents the power ballad from 1984’s Rebel Yell into a ghostly number with girl group-inspired backing vocals. “I spend so much time/ Believing all the lies/ To keep the dream alive/ Now it makes me sad/ It makes me mad at truth/ For loving what was you,” she sings on the haunting break-up track before breaking into French on the chorus’ backing refrain of “Les yeux sans visage.”
“Eyes Without a Face” joins Olsen’s renditions of Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” and Men Without Hats’ “Safety Dance” as the latest single off Aisles, her upcoming EP of ’80s covers. The five-track project, which will also include Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s classic 1981 single “If You Leave” and Alphaville’s immortal 1984 smash “Forever Young,” is slated to hit digital retailers and streaming services next Friday, August 20th via the singer’s new Jagjaguwar imprint somethingcosmic. (Physical copies will be available a few weeks later on September 24th.)
Stream Olsen’s cover of “Eyes Without a Face” below.
Elsewhere, the alt-rocker has been busy promoting “Like I Used To,” her new collaboration with fellow indie heavyweight Sharon Van Etten. The duo debuted the track live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon back in June, and more recently followed that up with an acoustic performance earlier this month on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
In April, Olsen also unveiled “Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling),” the previously-unheard precursor to last year’s “Waving, Smiling” from her 2021 box set Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories.
