We thought we’d do something a little special for this week’s choice.
See, we figured, you could listen to the original versions of these songs any time you wanted to…how often do you get to hear two artists covering each other’s records stupendously well in the same place though?
Well, behold the almighty awesomeness of Ed Sheeran and Birdy doing justice to one another’s songs Skinny Love and The A Team, songs which were both hugely successful when released last year.
Despite the obvious difference in their vocals and instruments of choice, both Sheeran and Birdy, real name Jasmine van den Bogaerde, put on striking performances of their covers for artists still so young and new in their careers.
Sheeran, 21, armed with his guitar, uses a variation of intonations to set the mindscape of the song seamlessly and the air of effortless conviction enforces the significance of the lyrics, which really do strike a chord amongst his minimalistic use of chords.
15 year old Birdy, meanwhile, brings a new element of grandeur and empathy to The A Team by playing the piano, a song which found massive success as a profound story of life on the street.
With her voice resonating against the studio around her, the performance eloquently and compassionately deals with the issues raised in Sheeran’s lyrics of hardship and solitude.
Producing such stunning music at such an early point in their careers is a credit to both Sheeran and Birdy and we eagerly look forward to their future projects.
Perhaps we’ll even start a campaign to get them to collaborate…hmmm, now that’s an idea…
With his debut American tour starting in four weeks’ time, Ben Howard has a very promising chance at becoming an international triumph if the current number of his sold out gigs are anything to go by.
Having just celebrated his 24th birthday, the Devonshire based singer-songwriter found success in the UK after his first album Every Kingdom got to No. 7 on the album charts last October, spending 23 weeks in the charts in total.
Currently doing dates in Europe, Howard has performances in Germany and France lined-up before taking his tour over to the US, starting with weekend dates at Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington.
Worryingly though, a recent announcement (Friday 27th April) on his website confirmed at least four cancelled locations on the last stretch of his European gigs due to illness, although the post goes on to say performances will be back on “asap”.
With a month still to go, Howard already has four of his nine US gigs set to be filled to the rafters with fans, including three sold out performances in Los Angeles and San Francisco.…(Read more.)
Gotye’s latest single, Eyes Wide Shut, from the globally successful Making Mirrors album has gotten its first taste of radio airplay in the UK this week.
With the singer-songwriter’s first release, Somebody That I Used to Know, and the album itself having gone to No. 1 in charts in Europe, Australia, Asia and the US, it seemed this song was slowly but surely creeping its way into everyone’s life at the time.
If, like most of the world, you’ve already heard it, you know exactly what I mean.
And, if like the millions of others you’ve fallen under the mysticism of its lyrics, you may be pleasantly surprised by Walk Off The Earth’s rather more penetrating deliverance of this poignant track.
Forming in 2006 in their hometown of Burlington, Ontario, the group consists of members Gianni Luminati, Ryan Marshall, Mike ‘Beard Guy’ Taylor, Joel Cassady and Sarah Blackwood, each of whom are, in their own right, adept multi-instrumentalists and vocalists…(Read more.)
We here at Acoustic Sound Hole can’t help but fall ever so slightly weak at the knees at a beautiful Scotsman who can sing, so Biffy Clyro have always ticked all the right boxes for us.
Machines just so happens to be on one of our personal all-time favourite albums too, so it’s only right this song gets shared on this list.
From the band’s 2007 album Puzzle, Machines is the final track on a record that tells a profound story of personal development.
Dealing with the passing of his mother, lead vocalist Simon Neil penned the album as a way of coping with losing such a momentous figure in his life.
Although Puzzle, the band’s third album, isn’t acoustic based, Neil chose to end the record with a last memento to his mother who was a fan of country and folk music, where this song takes its influences from.
Machines is a stunning way to finish an exquisite album, with its resolute tones of fore longing and quiet desperation, after the upheaval and structured outpour of previous tracks.
Everything about this song is brilliant, from the delicately selected chords leading to orchestral backing to the sincerity in Neil’s voice as he projects these lyrics that resound so heavily with him.
Puzzle reached No. 2 in the first week of its release and is still the highest peaking Biffy Clyro album to date, despite the massive success of their 2009 follow-up, Only Revolutions.
The legend that is Dave Grohl was always somehow going to make it into this list.
Although fans of Foo Fighters may be more accustomed to hearing the full-pelted version of this song, full of hardcore riffage and moshability, this stripped back version of Best of You still captures every bit of awesomeness we associate with the song.
Going solo in this particular performance, Grohl and his acoustic guitar hit the song as hard as his instrument will let him, keeping the song alive with the gruff passion and power Grohl is infamous for.
A truly special moment in this video is when the crowd join in about midway, just before Grohl launches on his massive attack of the final part of the song, going hardcore on the closing riff an’ everything!
Legendary.
Acoustic Sound Hole 