Dan Sartain – ‘Pass This On’
After the fury of Sartain’s last Ramones riffing album, Too Tough To Live, you might expect his next effort to run along the same punk-distilled lines. But when it is Dan Sartain, nothing is ever that simple, and after a brief dance with the more soulful side of Sartain, he has produced a fantastic song that leaves us thirsty for more. Taken from his next release, Dudesblood, Sartain covers The Knife’s ‘Pass This On’. It has enough quirk to make you think, splashed with enough groove to make it Far Out’s Track Of The Day.
Toying with gritty background guitars and glorious glockenspiel, Sartain shows he’s no one-trick pony. He delivers a perfect cover of The Knife’s ‘Pass This On’, with all its post-modern charm and zombie-nation, sardonic vocals that reek of the socially undead. Contrary to the void-filling monotone vocals, there is a humour to this track that has been missing from Sartain’s recent work.
Released on One Little Indian Records on May 12th, Sartain mixes his sultry and sexy delivery with art-driven Americana, playing modern emotions with primitive equipment.
With it, Sartain shares a piece of his inner consciousness with us. After the fury of Too Tough To Live, Sartain felt the need to divulge that, and what better way to show an artist’s intent than by covering someone else’s art?
This may seem a strange concept, but sometimes, adapting someone’s work into your own can gleam new light onto an otherwise murky hole. Sartain has been in that murky hole for the last few years, drifting between straight rock and roll and a purer kind of punk. He has also flirted with depression and the idea of retirement.
By this reckoning, we are glad he didn’t; the world would be a little darker without a burning flare like Sartain. He’s bright, unpredictable and may only be around for a little while longer, but damn is it fun while it lasts.
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