The FADER’s transgender charity covers compilation FADER & Friends Volume 1 is out now, available exclusively on Bandcamp until December 1, 2023. 100% of the proceeds go towards the Transgender Law Center, Mermaids, and Rainbow Railroad. Throughout the month of November, we’re speaking to the artists who contributed to the 44-song collection about the songs they covered.
A hushed, paired-down juggernaut from The Breeders' 2002 comeback album Title Tk, "Off You" is heavy with the feeling of being marooned even when you're surrounded by people. Miss Grit, the Queens-based musician who deftly navigated the labyrinth of the self on their 2023 album Follow The Cyborg, is an ideal match for Kim Deal's song. Their cover, with its gentle strums and fog of electronics, provides a deeply moving parallel to the original.
Listen to the song below and buy the full album on Bandcamp. Scroll down to read Miss Grit on the original song and their cover.
What's your first memory of this song?
I first heard this song when I was 15 in a theater watching the then-newly released movie Her :)
Why did you decide to record it as your cover?
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was feeling really uneasy when trying to write my own music, so I turned to covers of some of my favorite songs to kind of soothe my musical anxiety. This was one of those songs I sang to myself at the height of lockdown. I thought of it when asked about this cover album for trans rights. Something about the line "I am the autumn in the scarlet, I am the makeup on your eyes" is always so chilling to me every time I hear it/sing it. It feels like death and rebirth a bit. A new identity perhaps or the departure from a previous self/relationship.
What does this song mean to you personally?
I’m honestly not sure what this song means exactly. When I listen to it I feel a sort of calmness, however, the lyrics make me feel like I’m wandering through a changing, uncertain environment. But I think that’s what makes it so touching to me, it feels like a surrender to change and the willingness to flow with it. It also makes me think of the relationships I hold close to my heart and how they are also subject to the flow of change.
What's another song you'd love to cover and why?
On a less emotional note, I’d really love to cover "Song for the Dead" by Queens of the Stone Age
