Annie Clark, aka St Vincent, teams up with Beck and musician friends to cover the INXS classic Never Tear Us Apart.

Love songs don’t get any more romantic than Michael Hutchence’s beautiful ballad Never Tear Us Apart. So here’s a Valentine’s treat with Annie Clark breathing new life – and new love – into the INXS song.

Back in 2010 Clark was beginning to make a name for herself as St Vincent when she received an invitation from Beck to join the fourth studio session of his ‘Record Club’ project.

His idea was to re-record a handful of classic albums with a hand-picked house band and guest singers, with one proviso: the entire album had to be recorded in a single day.

Following covers of albums by the Velvets, Leonard Cohen and Skip Spence, Clark received the invitation to sing the songs from INXS’s 1988 album Kick.

Never Tear Us Apart is an emotional powerhouse, built around waltzing violins, dramatic pauses, and an instantly memorable guitar riff – transferred here to a violin.

Clark recorded it in a single take, her fragile voice capturing all the passion of Hutchence’s lyric, written for his then girlfriend and the love of his life, film and TV producer Michele Bennett.

It includes what is surely one of the most romantic lines in the songwriting canon:  “We could live / For a thousand years / But if I hurt you / I’d make wine from your tears.”

The studio band consists of Beck on acoustic guitar, bass by Sergio Dias of Brazilian legends Os Mutantes, and members of the experimental Australian band Liars.

The original INXS version was played at Hutchence’s funeral as the coffin was borne from the cathedral. I’m sure there was not a dry eye anywhere.