While most teenagers are dreaming of befriending or becoming rock stars, one Canadian teen is ticking both off her bucket list – with none other than The Flaming Lips.
Nell Smith, from Fernie, British Columbia, has cut nine tracks with Wayne Coyne and co. for their album of Nick Cave cover songs, Where the Viaduct Looms, due for release October 25th.
The band has just released the first video from their collaboration, 2016’s Bad Seeds track ‘Girl in Amber.’
The song was the first Smith and the band recorded together, with Smith flipping Cave’s iconic ballad into a low-fi bedroom pop jam, accompanied by the Lips’ guitars.
CBC reported Smith first saw the band perform with her father when she was 10 years old, before begging her father Jude to take her to more.
“I thought their shows were really cool, really interactive with the crowd, everyone sings along and it just makes it a different experience,” she said.
Soon, singer Coyne noticed Smith, dressed in a parrot suit, and sang a David Bowie cover to her in Calgary. Smith ‘parroted’ every word back to him. The pair eventually became unlikely friends, via Smith’s father.
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According to Consequence of Sound, Coyne said, “It is always great to meet excited, young creative people. With Nell we could see she is on a journey and thought it would be fun to join her for a while and see if we could get things going. It was a great way to connect with her and help harness her cool attitude to making music.”
It was Coyne who chose Cave’s music to record initially, telling CBC he didn’t expect Smith to know or have preconceived notions about him.
“I think Nell and I just wanted to start to make some music and see what would happen,” he said. “Doing cover songs is a fun way to get things rolling along.”
We already know what Cave thinks of other people covering his work, having previously said: “I’m very happy to hear that my work inspires writers and painters. It’s the most beautiful compliment, the greatest reward. Art should always be an exchange.”
The Flaming Lips, meanwhile, released their 16th album American Head last year. They performed a couple of shows in human-sized hamster balls at the start of this year, as only the Lips know how, but won’t tour the album properly until the end of this year.
Watch: ‘Girl in Amber’ by Nell
