Evanescence's Amy Lee and Troy McLawhorn perform a stripped-back rendition of Bananarama's ’80s hit Cruel Summer.
Following Amy Lee's beautiful lockdown duet with Halestorm's Lzzy Hale, the Evanescence singer has now teamed up with bandmate Troy McLawhorn for a stripped-back cover of Bananarama's Cruel Summer.
The pair gave the ’80s hit an entirely fresh approach as they performed it remotely for MagentaMusik 360, with Amy's vocals and keys adding a newfound sense of emotion and even darkness to the tone of the single, in contrast to the upbeat, poppy original.
Quiz: How well do you know Evanescence's lyrics?
“I don’t know about you guys, but so many songs have seemed to take on a new and deeper meaning during this time – and that’s one of those for me,” she explains once their performance is over. “We can’t wait to play live in the flesh for you again, but until then, stay safe, be well, and take care.”
Though this isn't Evanescence's own material, the vibe could be a sign of what's to come from their new album The Bitter Truth – which is due out “incrementally throughout 2020”.
Describing the collection of material that the band have so far, Amy revealed back in May, “I think so far the one thing that ties them together is it’s going to a place that’s even more raw.”
She added that Evanescence wanted to get “back to rocking” following 2017’s Synthesis – a record that featured orchestral and electronic reworkings of old material, plus two new tracks.
“[Synthesis] was incredible, as was the experience of performing with a live orchestra, but it took a lot of work on an internal level,” she said. “By the end of it we were all really ready to get back to rocking. I don’t want to say our new album is stripped back, because it’s not – it’s big, powerful and luscious. But we haven’t done any orchestra [parts] on any of the new songs, and that’s not because we couldn’t get together with one because of the pandemic!”
Amy also added: “We’re still writing our new music and the pressure’s definitely on now we’ve released [2020 single] Wasted On You. We lit the fuse and now we’re screwed (laughs)…”
While we await more new music from Evanescence, check out Amy and Troy's cover of Cruel Summer below:
