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See Arctic Monkeys Unplug Tame Impala’s ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’

Arctic Monkeys, Tame Impala, video, cover

Arctic Monkeys have found a sharp new way to honor the spirit of a standout Tame Impala song. As part of Australian radio station Triple J’s “Like a Version” covers series, SPIN interview subject Alex Turner  took the Perth band’s psych-drenched “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” from 2012’s Lonerism, and, well, took it a little bit further backwards: He stripped away the song’s sauntering bass line and spacey guitar effects, putting a focus on the songcraft beneath by delivering it with only an acoustic guitar and his grainy vocal. With the song’s one-sided dialogue about an uncertain relationship so starkly exposed, it becomes clear how similar its basic framework is to that of the best songs on Arctic Monkeys’ 2013 album AMsuch as “R U Mine?” and “Do I Wanna Know?”

Speaking of cover versions and songs with question marks in their titles, Miley Cyrus recently covered AM‘s “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, asked by Triple J to name his favorite cover of one of the band’s songs, singled out the “Wrecking Ball” star’s. Pressed on whether he was being sarcastic, the Diddy BFF explained (via NME): “No, she did some bits in there I wish we’d he done. She gets higher than we can … in the voice.” 

Tame Impala are no strangers to cover versions, either, remaking Michael Jackson’s “Stranger in Moscow” earlier this year and covering OutKast’s “Protoype” on Triple J. As for Arctic Monkeys, they recently performed songs by the Beatles and Lou Reed. Their “Do I Wanna Know?” spawned a cover late last year by Sam Smith, who’s probably wondering who a guy has to twerk against around here to earn an on-air shoutout.