A few months ago, electronic music group Chromatics officially broke up. But when a door closes, windows often open—founder Adam Miller already announced his forthcoming solo album Gateway that’s out next February. And today, former lead singer Ruth Radelet officially launched her own solo career with a cover of Elliott Smith’s “Twilight.”
“Growing up in Portland, I couldn’t help but be influenced by Elliott Smith,” Radelet said in a press statement. “His music was just in the water there. I still feel a sort of homesick nostalgia every time I hear one of his songs, and I’ll forever associate his music with the rainy weather and the gritty, small town feeling Portland had back then.”
Radelet’s version does the original justice. In Smith’s version, subtle shifts in wind and crickets ringing in the night were sewn into the background of the track. In Radelet’s take, raw acoustic guitar strums are replaced with a piano and the gentle crashing of waves. Both take us to the outdoors somewhere on the West Coast, the dusk enshrouding us.
Hear Ruth Radelet’s cover below.
