At the beginning of the year, Detroit-born singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens indicated via a website post that he would be contributing to a long-awaited Arthur Russell tribute compilation from the Red Hot Organization.
The album, Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell, now has an official release date of October 21 via Yep Roc. In addition, Stevens’ cover of Russell’s 1994 track “A Little Lost” has surfaced online and is available as an instant download with pre-orders of the LP.
Stevens’ take on the cellist/composer’s ode to kissing is a loving one, but it also moves the naked acoustic beauty of the original into more pop-minded electronic territory. With its multiple overlapping vocals, majestic orchestral flourishes, and mammoth-sounding percussion, the cover is reminiscent of Stevens’ The Age of Adz. By trading in the close quarters of Russell’s rendition for a widescreen canvas, Stevens does justice to his source material but also makes it sound fresh.
Red Hot, a nonprofit international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture, has released over 16 compilation albums including 2009’s Dark Was the Night, which also featured Sufjan Stevens. The upcoming Russell tribute includes contributions from Hot Chip, Robyn, Scissor Sisters, Phosphorescent, Cults, Devendra Banhart, Jose Gonzalez, and Blood Orange. Read what Stevens’ had to say about “A Little Lost” below and listen to his cover below the quote:
“I like ‘A Little Lost’ because it’s all about kissing. I love kissing. If I could kiss all day, I would. I can’t stop thinking about kissing. I like kissing more than sex because there’s no end to it. You can kiss forever. You can kiss yourself into oblivion. You can kiss all over the body. You can kiss yourself to sleep. And when you wake up, you can’t stop thinking about kissing. Dammit, I can’t get anything done because I’m so busy thinking about kissing. Kissing is madness! But it’s absolute paradise, if you can find a good kisser.
Arthur’s music is all over the place, but most of it seems to be about embracing darkness (loneliness) and ambiguity (confusion) with the biggest bear hug in the world. Catharsis! He didn’t give a shit about fads or fashion even as he was influenced by popular music, club music, and all that shitty art music at the Kitchen. He kind of cobbled it all together to create his own diverse musical language, He was funny as shit (a wordsmith, a master of the innuendo), but also dead serious (and blunt) about the deepness of his feelings, unafraid to express affection in his songs, without pandering or cliche. Arthur was real as shit. You can’t fake realness.”