Lankum transform The Specials’ Ghost Town into an otherworldly Irish folk-drone-techno banger for a new generation.
Artists must have conflicting feelings when they hear other artists cover their work. Especially when they turn it into something else.
On the one hand, there’s the flattery that your creation is recognised as being worthy of being reinterpreted and/or presented to a new audience. On the other, it must be uncomfortable to find your vision of how it should sound being appropriated by another creative mind.
In this case, I feel certain that Terry Hall – and, hopefully, Jerry Dammers, who wrote Ghost Town – would (have) appreciated this otherworldly take on arguably their greatest song, by the Irish experimental folk group Lankum.
Like all the best cover versions (Gloria by Patti Smith, All Along The Watchtower by Hendrix, Soft Cell’s Tainted Love, Johnny Cash’s Hurt), it takes the original song only as a starting point.
Initially, Lankum convey the same ghostly vibes as The Specials, the folk-drone mood enhanced by Leonn Ward’s wonderful short film paying homage to Tarkovsky’s Nostalgia, shot in the gloriously bleak Wicklow mountains by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Robbie Ryan (Poor Things, American Honey).
Then, after six minutes, the bleak, haunting mood suddenly switches as they crank up the pace and unexpectedly turn it into a techno banger by the end. Techno-folk!
And of course it’s as relevant today – perhaps even more so – than it was back in 1981, another time of racial tension and class division when riots were sweeping through British cities in protest at mass unemployment, poverty and police brutality.
“It’s an honour to be releasing a version of this iconic tune,” say Lankum, “and it feels eerily relevant to be referencing yet again themes of urban decay, economic hardship and working-class frustration.”
It’s also the perfect song for Samhain, today’s Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the “darker half” of the year – halfway between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. Or, if you prefer, Hallowe’en.