The Kills have shared a cover of Billie Eilish‘s song ‘Happier Than Ever’ from their upcoming EP ‘Happier Girls Sessions’.
The duo – comprising Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince – delivered an acoustic rendition of Eilish’s 2021 single during an appearance on US radio station Sirius XM last year.
Now, the band have reimagined the track once again at Grammy-winning producer Paul Epworth’s Church Studios in London for a new physical and digital EP.
The five-track collection will also contain “non-electric” versions of ‘My Girls My Girls’, ‘103’, ‘New York’ and ‘Better Days’ from The Kills’ latest album ‘God Games’ – which was co-produced by Epworth and Hince.
‘Happier Girls Sessions’ is set to arrive on streaming platforms this Friday (September 20) via Domino. Additionally, fans can pre-order a special seven-inch vinyl edition (out November 8).
Speaking about how The Kills’ cover of Billie Eilish came about, frontwoman Mosshart explained: “It’s all Sirius XM’s fault. We were asked to do an acoustic session with them last year and they’d asked for a cover as part of the session.
“I’d always really dug ‘Happier Than Ever’ and found myself singing it around the house all the time. It seemed like a good choice, since I loved it and loved singing it. After that radio session hit the airwaves, Laurence Bell from Domino reached out to us enamoured with our acoustic version of the song and asked us to do an electric recording.”
She continued: “Here we were in London, recording a non-electric EP and what’s the first song on it? An electric cover of the acoustic cover we did… and the more electricity the better. Thank you Billie for writing such a brilliant song!”
Check out the artwork and tracklist for The Kills’ ‘Happier Girls Sessions’ EP below.
1. ‘Happier Than Ever’
2. ‘103 – Non-Electric’
3. ‘New York – Non-Electric’
4. ‘Better Days – Non-Electric’
5. ‘My Girls My Girls – Non-Electric’
The Kills toured the UK in support of ‘God Games’ earlier this year, and supported LCD Soundsystem at London’s All Points East last month. Mosshart and Hince are due to hit the road in the US next month – find any remaining tickets here.
In a four-star review of the duo’s most recent album, NME wrote: “‘God Games’ serves as a testament to their new era, one that sees them push each other out of their comfort zones and explore new ways to keep adapting their iconic sound, providing a grand and edgy comeback that is as fresh as can be.”
Last October, The Kills spoke to NME about being one of the few ’00s survivors still evolving their music.
“I’m really proud, but when we started we decided to make this band into our lives, and our lives into this band,” Mosshart said.
“We just believed that it would always happen. Very seriously, and we believed it was very possible because there was just two of us, we could do anything artistically that we wanted to do.”
She continued: “This band could become anything, change on a dime, or whatever we wanted to do. We were not gonna restrict it. So I’m not surprised but I’m very proud of us that we’ve made it this far and we love it this much still. As an artist, it’s a soulful thing to want to constantly reinvent.”
