PREMIERE: Listen to Quivers Cover Yo La Tengo’s “Pass the Hatchet I Think I’m Goodkind”

The cover arrives as part of a 7-inch split with Merge labelmates Superchunk before the Australia four-piece's upcoming tour.

By Matt Mitchell  |  October 31, 2024 | 9:00am
Photo by Rick Clifford
Music News Quivers
PREMIERE: Listen to Quivers Cover Yo La Tengo’s “Pass the Hatchet I Think I’m Goodkind”

Today, Merge Records has put two of their acts on one 7-inch split together: Superchunk and Quivers. It’s the label’s origins colliding with its present, as Superchunk remain eternal as ever while Quivers are still riding the momentum of their brilliant August release, Oyster Cuts. Not only is it one of the best alt-rock records of the year, but “Apparition” is a serious SOTY contender for me. The way they combine pop, electronica and country-tinged rock ‘n’ roll is warm, anthemic and downright splendid.

For this collaboration, Superchunk chose to cover Dead Moon’s “Fire in the Western World,” and Quivers took the mantle on Yo La Tengo’s “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind.” The pairing is set to kick off Quivers’ upcoming Australian and European tour, which begins Friday, November 1.

Quivers’ Sam Nicholson says of the band’s cover: “We chose an impossible song, Yo La Tengo’s incredible 10-minute, 47-second classic ‘Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind,’ and had a real good time being in the song. Especially being in a song that is also an older soul song, you just dip your toes in the river of song that went before and will go forever. That beat and bassline goes forever.”

“We played around with our Tascam 388 reel to reel, for the first time really recording ourselves. Bella [Quinlan] and Holly [Thomas] dueled the vocals, and we kinda imagined the song more as a transmission that comes and goes rather than the epic world of Yo La Tengo’s amazing repetition,” Nicholson continues. “Holly then mixed the song, and it felt good to have a first song we’d done all by ourselves. DIY is the only future for music, we think! Doing a split-7 with Superchunk ahead of the tour was a dream.”

Listen to Quivers’ cover of “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” below.

 
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