Song You Need: SQÜRL pay tribute to a late, great poet with help from a living legend

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Celebrated writer/director Jim Jarmusch and film producer Carter Logan are releasing a new album as the guitar duo SQÜRL next month. Titled Silver Haze, the record is due out May 5 via Sacred Bones. And today (April 4), they’ve shared the project’s second single, “John Ashbery Takes A Walk,” featuring legendary French actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The track, as one might imagine reading its title, pays tribute to the master poet John Ashbery, who passed away at 90 in 2017. Over the mesmeric groove of Jarmusch and Logan’s wailing but oddly comforting guitars and some tastefully sparse bass/drum accompaniment, Gainsbourg reads “Le Livre est sur la Table” and the title poem from Ashbery’s first published book of poetry, Some Trees (1956). Her renditions are tranquil but emotionally stirring nonetheless.

Where Silver Haze’s instrumental-only lead single “Berlin ’87” was all disquieting post-rock drones, the new track’s non-verbal side is more functional, highlighting the breathtaking beauty of Ashbery’s words and Gainsbourg’s breathy yet tightly controlled voice.

“‘John Ashbery Takes A Walk’ celebrates the influence of our artistic godfathers, the New York School Poets,” Jarmusch and Carter write in a press release. “Two of Ashbery’s earliest poems, ‘Le Livre est sur la Table,’ and ‘Some Trees,’ are recited by the remarkable Charlotte Gainsbourg, her ethereal voice floating above SQÜRL’s psychedelic landscape of guitars, percussion, and electronics. And once again, filmmaker Jem Cohen has created a meditative visual accompaniment revealing the joy and stillness found in the small details of ordinary life.” (Cohen provided a video for “Berlin’s 97” as well.)

Watch the new clip and check out Silver Haze’s cover art and tracklist below.

1. Berlin ’87
2. The End of the World
3. Garden Of Glass Flowers feat. Marc Ribot
4. She Don’t Wanna Talk About It feat. Anika
5. Il Deserto Rosso feat. Marc Ribot
6. John Ashbery Takes A Walk feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg
7. Queen Elizabeth
8. Silver Haze