American Football are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their revered self-titled debut later this year, and they’ve tapped nine musicians to cover its songs, which will accompany a remastered version of the original album.
Iron & Wine already put their spin on emo staple “Never Meant,” and today Ethel Cain shared a gorgeous 10-minute cover of “For Sure.” The song comes with a video, featuring blurry footage of the gothic South that was shot and edited by Cain. “I knew I wanted to do ‘For Sure’ immediately,” she says. “It’s always stood out to me every time I spin the record, and I knew exactly how I wanted to translate it into my sound. My favorite part of the entire track is the sound of the train going by the apartment I lived in back in Pennsylvania, stretched out like a synth at the beginning and end.
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“American Football is one of those bands that really marked such a moment in time with their debut record, a mark with so much longevity that it found me the same way at 20 years old that I imagine it found everyone else the day it was first released: as an instant classic,” Cain continues. “Their sonic storytelling has inspired me in more ways than I can count over the years, so being asked to contribute to this covers edition was truly an honor. American Football forever.”
Drummer Steve Lamos, who was introduced to Cain’s music through his day job as a college professor and ranks “For Sure” as one of his favorite American Football songs, adds: “Ethel Cain has somehow made me like this track even more than I already did. [One of my students] wrote a brilliant paper explaining how Cain’s ‘American Teenager’ created a lush sonic landscape through textural elements, careful pacing, and plaintive lyrics. Cain bathes ‘For Sure’ here in similar luxury. She takes her time with each note, each phrase, and each vowel. In the process, she manages to intensify the ache and longing of the original: the ‘ooooohs’ and ‘aaaaahs’ echo almost endlessly here.”
