New York, NY (Top40 Charts) British singer/songwriter/guitarist Lianne La Havas has released a video for her cover of Radiohead's "Weird Fishes," from her new, self-titled album, out this Friday on Nonesuch in the US. You can watch the live, full-band video, which was filmed at London's 123 studios in Peckham, below. La Havas says of the song: "In the deepest ocean, / The bottom of the sea, / I did this cover of
Radiohead / I hope they don't sue me!"
Her recording of "Weird Fishes" began by accident: returning from a glorious, sunny Glastonbury Festival performance in June 2019, La Havas and her core band decided to see if they could nail their lithe live version of Radiohead's In Rainbows song in the studio. "I had the most wonderful, nourishing experience recording that," La Havas says, "And that's where I decided: the rest of the album needs to be like this. It's got to be my band, and I've got to do it in London, whenever people have time."
La Havas plays a one-off solo live show this Wednesday, July 15, at London's Roundhouse that will include new songs from her upcoming album, Lianne La Havas, and across her catalog. This very special, multi-camera, one-night-only performance will be broadcast via YouTube and timed to specific regions: July 15 at 8pm BST/9pm CEST (UK & Europe) and 9pm EST/6pm PST (North America); July 16 at 8pm AEDT (Australia)/7pm JST (Japan) and KST (Korea). Tickets for the concert are available here. La Havas will donate her proceeds from the concert to
Black Lives Matters-related organizations.
The ten songs on Lianne La Havas—nine originals plus "Weird Fishes"—span the arc of a love affair, one that brought growth and newfound confidence. "This is my first completely self-produced album with my own band. I got my own way with everything—all the decisions that you hear on this album were mine," she says. "I'm a woman now, so I'm less shy and timid about saying certain things. And there's no right or wrong when it's your record, so I was very much embracing that fact, as well." Previously released album tracks include "Can't Fight," "Paper Thin," and "Bittersweet."
La Havas recently performed an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, which has received more than 750,000 views on YouTube alone since premiering in May. She also performed "
Bittersweet" on the BBC's Live at Home on Later ... with Jools Holland. She and her band also played London's Barbican alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Jules Buckley in February; a video of their performance of "
Bittersweet" may be seen here. Early critical acclaim for Lianne La Havas includes the Sunday Times praising her "smoky, up-close vibrato and yearning lyrics of bracing directness," and the Guardian noting that the record harkens "back to the warm, widescreen sounds of the hottest and most buttered soul."
