Our recurring new music feature Origins offers artists the chance to share their personal insights into their latest release. Today, 13-year-old Nell Smith and The Flaming Lips break down their cover of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ “The Ship Song.”
Three years ago, Nell Smith was just another fan of The Flaming Lips. But after meeting frontman Wayne Coyne following the band’s 2018 headlining show in Calgary, the 13-year-old musician has been living the dream. Not only has she stayed in contact with Coyne, but they have become close collaborators, recording an album of Nick Cave covers together.
Back in September, Smith — who hails from Fernie in British Colombia, Canada — and The Flaming Lips offered up the lead single “Girl in Amber,” which featured Smith flipping Cave’s original ballad into a hushed bedroom-pop jam.
The latest preview from the upcoming joint project is Smith and The Flaming Lips’ rendition of 1990’s “The Ship Song” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, which Consequence is premiering exclusively today (November 10th).
“It was really exciting to be recording a second song, as I wasn’t really sure how Wayne felt about the first one, so it gave me some confidence to keep going,” Smith tells Consequence. “Once the second song was done, I really felt that I might be able to do more, and so we continued choosing songs and kept the recording going.”
Coyne adds, “I think Nell and I just wanted to start to make some music and see what would happen. Doing cover songs is a fun way, in the very beginning, to get things rolling along. I picked Nick Cave, ’cause I love his music and lyrics, and I thought, ‘Nell probably doesn’t know very much of his [Cave’s] music, and she might (because she has NO pre-conceived notions) just do something very simple, heartfelt and original.’ And… SHE DID!!”
Watch the video for “The Ship Song” below, and read on for Nell Smith and The Flaming Lips’ Origins.
Update: Nell and The Flaming Lips’ album, Where the Viaduct Looms, will be released on November 26th.
