Genre/Influences: Dark electro-pop.

Content: Claus Larsen likes to cover some of his favorite bands and it’s now time for Talk Talk and two songs of this legendary 80s formation.

“Such A Shame” became a world-wide famous hit and if you ask, not exactly the easiest song to cover. Claus Larsen did it with style, holding on the main ingredients of the original version like the elevating melody line and a few essential sounds in the beginning of the song. He reworked the bass line into his usual dark body-minded approach while the vocals have been sung in a rather soft way. There’s no real rage emerging of this song, but just a faithful adaptation of this great song into the Leæther Strip format.

“Hate” is a somewhat forgotten song that was originally released in 1982 on the first real full length album of Talk Talk (cf. “The Party’s Over”). The original version mixed some bombastic elements and pop music. Leæther Strip reworked it into a furious adaptation, which is mainly characterized by a heavy bass line and a ‘storm-trooper’ cadence while Claus now sings like a possessed soul.

We next get an extended version of each song, which doesn’t really add a real bonus. Some extra covers and/or remixes would have been a more judicious choice. Notice by the way that this release is also available as a 7” vinyl –released by Palace Of Worms, without the extended versions.

Conclusion: I think it means a lot to Claus Larsen to cover some of his favorite artists and the least I can say is he always did in style, holding on the essence of the original song and mixing it with some familiar Leæther Strip ingredients.

Best songs: “Such A Shame”, “Hate”.

Rate: (Elise Din:7)Elise Din.

Band: http://www.leaether-strip.com / www.facebook.com/LeaetherStrip