Listen to Inhaler’s dreamy cover of Kavinsky’s ‘Night Call’

Inhaler have recorded a live cover of Kavinsky‘s ‘Night Call’ for a recent radio session. Watch below.

The Irish band put a dreamy spin on the iconic track for Triple J’s Like A Version series. They also delivered a performance of ‘Billy (Yeah Yeah Yeah)’ from their third and latest album, ‘Open Wide’.

• READ MORE: Inhaler tell us about single ‘Your House’ and new album ‘Open Wide’: “There’s a strong sense of arrival for us”

Their reimagining of ‘Nightcall’ swapped the gooey, pulsing synths of the electro-pop classic for atmospheric, indie-rock guitars. Later, Inhaler gave a nod to the original song by introducing some ethereal keys.

The cover built up to an arena-sized and soaring chorus, before ending with a heavy instrumental.

Explaining their pick in an interview, Inhaler frontman Elijah Hewson said: “I think because it was [on] a movie soundtrack [for 2011’s Drive], that kind of felt different to covering just a normal pop song. So that made us kind of lean into it a bit.”

Bassist Robert Keating added: “I snuck it into our pre-show playlist, and that was a nice kind of… testing the waters. So I’m hoping that all our fans have already got it ingrained in their memory.”

Hewson recalled how the cover “went through a lot of different versions” ahead of landing on their “stripped-back” take that “stagger[s] things coming in”. Keating said: “It’s kind of nice to try and be out of your comfort zone, sometimes.

“When we pulled things out and gave the song a bit of space, I feel like it kind of revealed itself to be a bit more emotional and have a bit more weight to it as well.” Check out the interview and performances below.

French electronic musician Kavinsky co-wrote and co-produced ‘Nightcall’ with Daft Punk‘s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. It features vocals from CSS lead singer Lovefoxxx.

Originally released in 2010, the song went on to soundtrack the opening sequence to the Ryan Gosling-starring film Drive (2011) – leading to a surge in its popularity.

Last summer, Kavinsky teamed up with Phoenix to perform ‘Nightcall’ at the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024, along with Belgian singer Angèle. He later released an official studio version of the collaboration.

Following its outing at the Olympics, ‘Nightcall’ broke the record for the most Shazamed song in a single day ever.

Lupe Fiasco, Childish Gambino, Vinny Cha$e & Kid Art and Will Young have all sampled ‘Nightcall’, with London Grammar covering the song on their 2013 debut album ‘If You Wait’.

Speaking to NME in 2022, Kavinsky reflected on the huge “sudden success” of ‘Nightcall’. “[…] I didn’t really want to record again at that moment,” he explained. “I sensed some pressure; I was scared.”

He continued: “I was scared to imagine what my music was going to be after this success. I took two steps back and started to imagine what I was going to record after that, at my own pace. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next.”

In other news, Inhaler and Blossoms have announced an intimate live show together in Bath, with proceeds going to mental health charity CALM. It’ll take place next Thursday (June 26), ahead of both bands appearing at the nearby Glastonbury Festival that weekend.

Meanwhile, Inhaler have shared details of their biggest UK headline shows to date in London and Liverpool.

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