Max Tundra releases cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work"
Max Tundra
Releases cover of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work”
Watch the video here
“Lights 2023” + Remixtape out now
“This Woman’s Work” video still
“By digging into an ignored English maximalist prog tradition, Ben Jacobs changed music and laid down the fundamentals of some of the most important pop shifts of the last decade. Some prophet he turned out to be.” - The Quietus
“The reissues are tremendous offerings of a maximalist nature and have been quietly very, very influential.” - Music OMH
“These compositions are highly considered pieces of music rich in detail.” - Wire
Following the release of new single “Lights 2023” which received its first play on PC Music’s “My First Livestream” last month, Max Tundra, aka Ben Jacobs, today launches his transformative cover of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work”. Originally featured on the soundtrack of the 1988 film, She’s Having a Baby, and then on Bush’s 1989 album The Sensual World, Jacobs pays homage to the beautifully emotive original whilst transforming it into a new, synth heavy, falsetto-filled pop tune.
“Kate Bush is one of the few artists to have made the substance of the universe appear to change before my eyes,” Jacobs comments. “Her purity of artistic ambition has burst the universe wide open for me on several occasions. ‘This Woman’s Work’ is one of her most special pieces – I decided I would like to cover this song, as something new to perform at the end of my recent live show promoting my Domino reissues, as I felt it could showcase another side of my sound after the maximalist onslaught of my discography to date. I hope I did it justice.”
The single arrives alongside an out-of-this-world video directed by James Hankins (Kero Kero Bonito, Richard Dawson). Beginning in a bedroom layered with images and posters of pop stars, it follows the colourfully dressed Jacobs through his metamorphic realisation that he is the last human pop star on Earth. Of the video, Hankins says: "About 10 years ago, I tweeted: 'In 100 years' time, will people look back and realise Max Tundra was actually the ultimate pop star?' I didn't know it then, but it seems like that was the starting point for this video."
Watch the video for “This Woman’s Work” here.
Listen to “This Woman’s Work” here.
In 2022, alongside the reissue of his first three studio albums (the uncategorisable 2000 debut Some Best Friend You Turned Out to Be, 2002’s breakthrough Mastered by Guy at the Exchange, and the 2008 masterwork Parallax Error Beheads You), Max Tundra released Remixtape. Aptly named, it featured some classic reinventions from the Max Tundra discography by the likes of Julia Holter, Katie Dey and Kero Kero Bonito. A master of the genreless music form touching on prog, jazz, minimalist composition and pop music, the reissues and the Remixtape provided an opportunity for new listeners to have the same experience, the stellar line-up equally illustrating Jacobs’ lasting influence on popular music.
Both were released to critical acclaim with The Quietus noting that Jacobs has “made music unmatched in early 21st century Britain for the richness of its ideas and the exhilarating potentials it unlocked.”
As well as his solo work, Jacobs has previously collaborated with the likes of Arca, Daphne & Celeste and A. G. Cook. The natural musical predecessor to the likes of PC Music, Jacobs also boasts a remix roster which includes Pet Shop Boys, The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand.
Read Max Tundra’s exclusive interview with The Quietus on the release here.
Single artwork by Max Tundra:
Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be (2000) is available to order on Dom Mart in exclusive transparent green vinyl, Mastered by Guy at The Exchange (2002) on transparent blue vinyl and Parallax Error Beheads You (2008) on transparent orange vinyl. All include a download card featuring B-sides and related music from each era. Buy: Dom Mart.
