Rosie Carney shares haunting reimagination of 'The Bends'

Rosie Carney has released the full cover album of Radiohead's The Bends. The Donegal-based singer-songwriter has remolded the whole album into a breathy, haunting, bare-bones affair, but she hasn't lost the slow-burning power of the original.

It was important to Carney to set herself goals for the project. The first was to make sure each song came to life in a much different way than the original. The second was to make each song stand apart from the rest so that the record stayed interesting and held up on its own, even without referencing the original.

“There are actually a lot of firsts for me on this album," she said in a statement. "But I made sure not to put pressure on myself. I took my time and gave myself the freedom to do whatever felt right to me.”

Carney has also shared the visual for 'High & Dry', the song she was most worried about doing justice. “It’s such an anthem”, she explains.

Carney continues: “I don’t think I’d ever paid too much attention to the lyrics of this song before covering it, and in ways reading the lyrics was kind of like a reality check for me. At the start of lockdown I’d become so obsessed with what people were thinking of me. I felt vulnerable and in ways exposed, so I tried to hide that by muting and changing myself. I felt like nothing I did was good or cool enough which was shit. Thankfully hindsight is an amazing thing, and after being able to hit somewhat of a reset button, I think I was able to appreciate the message this song holds, which, to me, is don’t waste your life pretending. I remember thinking, 'damn, I can’t believe I nearly became like the person they’re singing about.'

The album is out now on Color Study, and follows i dreamed i was the night EP (Feb 2020) and her debut album Bare (2019).

Watch the video for 'High & Dry' and listen The Bends below.