This is a cover of one of my favorite songs of all time, Lift by Radiohead.

Lift was originally debuted in 1996 on tour, but was ultimately left off of OK Computer. The band experimented with it again in 2002, playing a drastically-changed, slower version live at their legendary shows in Lisbon and Salamanca. Once again, however, the song was left off their subsequent release, Hail to the Thief.

Lift was considered by fans to be a tragically lost classic for decades until the band finally released a reworked version of it in 2017 for the 20th anniversary edition of OK Computer, OKNOTOK.

Although I was ecstatic to finally see the song released, the version the band settled on seemed to me to lack both the joyful intensity of the 1996 version and the mysterious beauty of the 2002 version.

An opportunity arose for me to contribute a cover version to the Radiohead subreddit as part of the 2021 r/Radiohead Tribute Album (a benefit project for Amnesty International, organized by the amazing u/weerman44).

I took on arranging my own ideal version of the song using 11 different recordings as reference points (including 5 from the leaked OK Computer minidiscs), taking the bits that I liked best from each one and attempting to synthesize them together while adding a Permanent Starlight sparkle to it all.

The result is one of my favorite things I've ever produced. I hope you enjoy it too!

Huge thanks to the r/Radiohead community and everyone who contributed to the track!

Credits:
* Hylton - vocals, classical guitar, electric guitars, bass, drums, production
* Liz Murphy - vocals
* Michael Shapiro - engineering
* Gerardo Araya (u/noisyb22) - mixing, mastering

Original music available at https://permanentstarlight.com/

Lift

This is a Verve cover recorded via an international collaboration session with two amazing musicians: Daniele Bovio of Diamond Incarnation (http://diamondincarnation.bandcamp.com/) and Ron "Lil Ed" Rushing (https://www.facebook.com/ron.rushing.129). The three of us never would have met if it weren't for the magic of The Verve!

Permanent Starlight (California) - vocals, guitars, bass
Daniele Bovio (Austria) - production, backup vocals
Ron Rushing (Texas) - drums

Please purchase the original song here (http://www.amazon.com/No-Come-Down-Sides-Outtakes/dp/B000TERL7C/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_title_0)

And check out Black Submarine, Nick McCabe and Simon Jones of The Verve's brilliant new band! (http://blacksubmarine.co.uk/)

Permanent Starlight music is available here (http://www.permanentstarlight.com)

6 O'Clock [feat. Diamond Incarnation and Ron Rushing]

I rearranged Radiohead's Fog as a folk song and did a quick phone recording.

Fog [phone demo recording]

This song was written by one of my favorite people, Hideki Sakomizu (http://hidekisakomizu.com/), as a trans-Pacific duet for us to sing together.

Hideki - Vocals, guitar, music, lyrics
Hylton - Vocals, backup vocals, crickets, lyrics, production

* Lyrics:

Beautiful radiance, shimmering coastline
Beautiful radiance, glimmering desert night

こころにずっと留まってる
[They remain completely in my heart]

匂い　音　風　波　星　君。。
[Smells, sounds, wind, waves, stars, and you]

道から　道へ。。つながり延びてく。。
[From one path to another, it connects and extends]

人との出会いからドラマが生まれる。。
[New stories are born from those you meet along the way]

未来を描く夜空のシアター
[The theater of the night sky shows a vision of the future]

永遠の星の輝きが 映す。。。映す。。。映す。。。
[Permanent starlight shines]

Beautiful radiance


Radiance [feat. Hideki Sakomizu]

This Japan cover is the result of a year-long collaboration between Planetarium Music (http://planetariummusic.com/) and Permanent Starlight, sparked after a gig we played together in Summer 2016.

Planetarium Music - Synthesizers, production
Permanent Starlight - Vocals, production

If you enjoy, please check out the album Tin Drum by Japan, an underrated classic that was decades ahead of its time.

Ghosts [feat. Planetarium Music]

* Lyrics:

I am a raven
Learning the sky
You, underwater
Deep, holding tight

Open to shadow
Open to light
Send me your shadows
Blend with our light

I'm underwater
Reaching my hands
You are a raven
Looking to land

Open to shadow
Open to light
Send you my shadows
Blend with our light

Down to the surface
Pour in the night
Up to the surface
Pour out the light

Mirroring

* Lyrics:

It's like holding on to dreams as they evaporate
When morning comes and pulls me back to you
Your smile washes over me
Eyes overflowing sunlit glee

And when we rise among the hills, the breeze is warm with you
The shining fields elysian below
Skipping together, dream to dream
Breath-giving unreality

Currents and forces
Lifting us skyward
Sunshine enfolds us
Gliding and diving

Down into another dream as it evaporates
Singing, melting forward, time drains into
Whirlpools in the deep-swirling sea
New colors spinning endlessly

Currents and forces
We can't swim away from
Waves shape a shoreline
Sand giving way

Currents and forces
Time blurring past us
Holding the edges
Joy found in letting go

Elysium

* Lyrics:

At the edge of the field
The light bends a gateway into shape

And this is where I unearth you
So guarded, yet open and fey
Butterflies cycle downwards
To another plane

Ambiguity, the gauzy silk surrounding everything
Clarity could either free me or dissolve the chrysalis

Meizja, come away
Where the silence resonates
Meizja, come away
Here the empty garden waits

And maybe we can bloom here too
The wind will remember your sage

Impermanence pulls me through
I'm chasing the river away
A thousand voices cycle upwards
And become the rain

Are we just a new beginning gathered for an old collection?
Am I just another seedling planted at the field's edge?

Meizja, come away
Where the silence resonates
Meizja, come away
Here the empty garden waits

Meizja, come to me
Where the silence celebrates
Meizja, come to me
At the empty garden's gate

Meizja

This project was the direct result of swine flu fever dreams and post-apocalyptica.

In appreciation of Bradford Cox's excellent Virtual 7" releases ( see http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/search?q=virtual+7%22 ), I decided to arrange and record covers of 2 Deerhunter songs as a tribute.

The A-side is a version of Rainwater Cassette Exchange (from Deerhunter's Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP), and the B-side is a cover of Like New (from their Fluorescent Grey EP).

I'd like to thank Kathryn Mendenhall (cello) and Takuma Ono (alto sax) for their contributions to these recordings. I feel like we were able to create something really unique here.

Permanent Starlight

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