I’ve always had a major weakness for cover tunes, a jones that’s been documented elsewhere in these virtual pages. Even at their worst, covers will always be pure entertainment for me. And at their best, they provide an inviting window to the tastes and creative aesthetic of an artist or band.
Seattle-based singer/songwriter/musician/producer Richie Nelson and his evolving groove collective Richie Dagger’s Crime have thrown their proverbial hat into the cover-record ring with Tenderness, an EP that dropped on June 13. Happily, the net result runneth over with all the things that make a record of covers fun and revealing.
Nelson’s previous recorded output under the RDC name has been largely as a collaborator and a producer. His last release, the sensibly-named Collaborations and Remixes 2015-2016 EP, includes Nelson’s sonic rejiggerings of Eastern Souvenirs and Real Don Music tracks, a couple of collabs with local hip-hop artist Silas Blak, one track with Gyassi Ross, and an RDC cut proper remixed by Kjell Nelson RMX. In the spirit of the best electronic music collaborations, it’s a patchwork of songs and grooves crafted communally, even as it bears each participant’s distinctive fingerprints.
Nelson’s unifying presence on that EP—an organically-informed production sensibility that finds flow and groove that are equal parts ’80’s retro and 21st-century state of the art—informs Tenderness. That strong voice doesn’t just make an ostensible debut record comprised only of covers acceptable, it makes it completely logical.
There’s plenty of willful roaming outside the box (another RDC trademark) that steers this EP away from mere musical Xeroxing and into a wonderfully cohesive creative statement. In case you didn’t guess, the title track is the General Public pop chestnut. But RDC trades in the original’s sprightly bounce for a sometimes-sparse, almost post-punk approach. A weepy textured guitar and primal walloping drums amplify Dave Wakeling’s melancholy lyrics without forsaking the original song’s hookiness.
RDC likewise plays wonderfully loose with “It’s Only Noise,” an expansion of Jamie XX’s “The Rest is Noise” that grafts on new (I think) lyrics and a sense of arena-filling poppiness that flirts with Arcade Fire-style exultation. And Joe Jackson’s Cole Porter-gone-new-wave “Stepping Out” becomes pure, glittering synth pop—a love ballad for androids who’ve just discovered human emotion and are damn near overwhelmed by it. The RDC take on “Chloe Dancer,” on the other hand, maintains the stark, piano-based loveliness of Mother Love Bone’s original, with Nelson’s mournful vocal take replacing Andrew Wood’s wounded grandeur with affecting fragility.
The EP is bookended by its two best tracks. Nelson and company’s opening take on “Just a Little Bit,” an extremely obscure (I couldn’t find it, at least) Groove Theory track, is a silky, infectious jam invigorated by synthesized harp strums, Eric Padgett’s warm trumpet, Coreena Brown’s sweetly soulful vocals, and an easy-grooving vibe signaling Nelson’s current obsession with vintage soul. And Tenderness closes with a terrific variation on Gonjasufi’s metaphor-rich “Sheep” that masterfully transforms the haunted, shambling, stoned original into a sumptuous meeting at the intersection of funk, tropicalia and percolating EDM.
Nelson’s wisely stabilized Richie Dagger’s Crime into a real (and really good) band that’s equally effective in-studio and live, and that cohesion’s done something you’d never expect from an EP full of covers: It’s given birth to a great ensemble mission statement, ripe with the promise of some seriously amazing original work around the bend (a full-length, all original long-player is due in August). I can hardly wait to hear what they’ve got up their well-tailored sleeves next.
Richie Dagger’s Crime play their EP release party tonight at The Lo-Fi in South Lake Union. Afrocop, Real Don Music, and OC Notes open.