Listen: FEMME - "Ring My Bell" (Anita Ward cover)

01 July 2014, 10:45 | Written by Melanie Battolla

(Tracks)

(FEMME) (Anita Ward)

London’s own pink pop princess FEMME has spent 2014 on a high. Within the first half of the year, rosé-haired Laura Bettinson has been enjoying the success of her clicking and ticking neo-soul hit “Fever Boy” and won the Rising Star award at the London Music Awards, amongst her many other achievements.

Still looking at the world with rose-tinted glasses, FEMME is onto her next venture. The artist is in fact bringing her Covers EP to the public. Each week, a track from a different decade (starting off with the 60s) will be tackled by FEMME and so far it looks like it’s going to be a very philogynist short player. The artist started off with The Shangri-Las “Sophisticated Boom Boom”, and now is moving onto the 70s with disco classic, “Ring My Bell”.

FEMME is not unfamiliar with covering other divas’ cult classics, having covered Aretha Franklin via Otis Redding’s “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.”, and updates this high-pitched one-hit wonder into an electro-pop bijou. The recognisable twinkling chimes reappear, this time surrounded by a bombastic and boisterous rhythm section, and uplifting retro nostalgia peppers the whole production. Anita Ward’s impish vocals are replaced by Bettinson’s silky affectations, accompanied by her own Bullet Girls who reproduce the quirkiness of the original’s coryphées.

FEMME plays several gigs and festivals throughout the summer, including a free gig at London’s Scotch of St James. Check out the rest of the dates below:

6 July - Vida Festival, Spain
12 July - Festibelly Festival, Hampshire, UK
17 July - Scotch of St James, London, UK (free entry)
20 July - Milkshake Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
8 August - Oya Festival, Oslo, Norway