Various Artists — The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake
Qobuz new release review (July 2023)
In 1992, British indie label Imaginary put together Brittle Days, a Nick Drake tribute album featuring a wonderfully diverse slate of acts ranging from Shelleyan Orphan and the High Llamas to Loop and Nikki Sudden. While this was a full eight years before an ad agency placed “Pink Moon” in a Volkswagen Cabrio commercial and made Drake one of the most well-known “undiscovered” artists around, it was right in the middle of a then-current craze for tribute albums that alternative acts used to make explicit their roster of influences. And among indie and alternative artists of that late ‘80s/early ’90s era, Nick Drake was a widely shared touchstone, thanks to the 1986 Fruit Tree box set that packaged up the entirety of his recorded output at an affordable price.
So it wasn’t terribly surprising that Brittle Days was one of a few Drake tributes that would emerge over the next few years. As his legacy has become more required reading rather than sui generis discovery, it’s been a while since another truly inspiring collection of Drake covers has been released. Endless Coloured Ways ends that drought in an exceptional manner. Spearheaded by the Drake estate, this sprawling collection features 23 of Drake’s songs reimagined by a wildly broad selection of artists, from likely candidates such as David Gray, Skullcrusher, Ben Harper, and Feist to more surprising appearances from the likes of Craig Armstrong, Liz Phair, and Emeli Sandé. The lineup is even more rewarding than it would appear at first, kaleidoscopic sight: Instead of getting all these unique voices to bend their musical style in homage to Drake’s sound, the approach is refreshingly catholic, resulting in two albums’ worth of Nick Drake songs that sound nothing like Nick Drake. While the original spirit of the tunes is largely respected — no death metal “Parasite” — and the lyrics and melodies are intact, each artist delivers their own unique arrangements, sonic predilections, and particular weirdnesses to the proceedings. To be sure, there are a few artists who just kinda sound like a ’70s singer-songwriter (looking at you Ben Harper), but for the most part, things are much more adventurous and unexpected, as this album unfolds across its “four seasons” of material. Whether it’s Fontaines D.C.’s epic, ripping sonics on “Cello Song,” the sensitive glitch-folk of Radiohead’s Philip Selway doing “Fly,” or Norwegian electropop artist Aurora turning “Pink Moon” into atmospheric synth futurism, the material here often veers far away from Drake’s sonic approach. Instead, it manages to stay tightly connected to the original’s aesthetic truth, a true hallmark of a successful tribute album.
