Interpol’s Paul Banks has shared a pair of Iggy Pop covers he recorded for Karan Kandhari’s new movie Sister Midnight. He takes on Iggy and the Stooges’ classic Raw Power cut “Gimme Danger,” as well as the 1977 song that gave the film its name, “Sister Midnight,” co-penned by David Bowie and featured on The Idiot. Listen to both below.
In a press release, Banks says of the covers, “‘Gimme Danger’ is one of my favorite Stooges songs, and ‘Sister Midnight’ I was less familiar with, but it is the titular track of a film that is feral with Stoogian grit and joy, so I was equally excited to immerse myself in it, and find an interpretation that felt authentic to my voice.” Banks also composed the film’s original score.
Kandhari directed Franz Ferdinand’s “Stand on the Horizon” video back in 2014 and makes his formal feature debut with Sister Midnight. He adds in the press release, “Art comes from the unconscious and the music of Iggy Pop was like a breadcrumb trail I followed through the unconscious as I wrote the film. In a beautiful collision of worlds, our talented composer Paul Banks has reinterpreted two Iggy songs in his own unique and haunting way, serving as celebration of both Iggy and the film’s themes. The lyrics to ‘Gimme Danger,’ a sort of broken misfit love song mirror the central relationship in the film. ‘Gimme Danger little stranger, and I’ll feel your disease…’ I would’ve called the film ‘Gimme Danger,’ but Jarmusch got there first.”
Sister Midnight is showing now in European cinemas, with a global release planned later in the year.
