My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers & Me

A skillful interpreter can make any song their own, and this is precisely what AWOLNATION’s Aaron Bruno achieves on My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers & Me, an ambitious, pandemic-inspired covers project featuring a cavalcade of collaborators—Beck and Jewel included. The architect behind the band’s distinctively cyborg-like fusion of alt-rock, electronic music, and pop, Bruno employs this aesthetic as a kaleidoscope lens through which each tune is filtered. Midnight Oil’s ’80s college-rock anthem “Beds Are Burning” is reborn as a thumping, sci-fi club jam featuring the defiant wail of Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath. Meanwhile, Harvey Danger’s ’90s alt-rock hit “Flagpole Sitta” is resurrected as dub-informed downtempo perfect for Elohim’s dreamy, electro-pop croon. But perhaps the most audacious entry is Fugazi’s “Waiting Room.” Bruno’s 21st-century, post-everything approach is light years removed from the seething, hardcore-inspired snarl of the late-’80s original. And yet, with the aid of indie-pop darlings Grouplove, he effortlessly draws the song into his vision; what comes out the other end is a groove-powered slab of future rock that would feel right at home on any of AWOLNATION’s other albums.