Peaches – Turn It On (Franz Ferdinand Cover)

The first video for a track from the Franz Ferdinand – Covers EP, which was released by Domino first on coloured vinyl for Record Store Day on April 16, and then as a full release on May 2, is Peaches’ version of Franz Ferdinand‘s ‘Turn It On’.

Taken from the Scottish band’s third album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, which was released in 2009, the original version is a predictably jaunty affair – riffy and snarky with the kind of bass line that is made for angular dancing in indie discos. Peaches adds a significant amount of darkness to her version, singing in a psychopathic monotone, like the teacher who never needs to raise their voice to scare the bejesus out of you.

With a murky and very bassy synth line, which sounds straight off a Sega Megadrive game, Peaches picks up on the stalker-quality of Franz Ferdinand’s lyrics and runs with the theme. “You don’t want to know how I plan on my own/You don’t want to know how I know when you’re on your own” she croons menacingly. Where Kapranos sounded like a sour and jilted teenage boy after a nasty break up, Peaches sounds properly scary.

The video, directed by Nice & Polite, picks up on the tone, with dark images of disembodied lips and hands emerging from the darkness and a table lined with Lynchesque oddities. A girl then emerges, opening her shirt revealing a black hole in her chest – defying expectation and challenging ideas about sexuality and the female body in classic Peaches style.

Comparably low-key as Peaches videos go, it matches the song for quiet, intense menace, creating a track that is more complicated and interesting than the original. Nevertheless, you can’t help feeling a tad concerned for the safety of a bunny somewhere when she sings the words “If I can’t have you, nobody can.”

A little light relief comes in the form of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it visual pun towards the end. Did you catch what it was? Answers on a postcard please.