A fantastic, melodic cover of Prince Buster’s “Sit and Wonder” comes via Lonely Gimmick, shining a light on the classic reggae track with a vibrant, enthusiastic spin. Lonely Gimmick, the once-anonymous project of Sam Powell, teams up here with Beth Duggan — whose call-and-response vocals prove magnetic amidst the swaying guitar pulses and brass-y mystique. “Sometimes I sit down and I wonder, do you love me?” the vocalists ask, harmonious and sharp in the ascent to ensuing cinematic-forward brass blaring.
Lonely Gimmick’s take on this Jamaican classic represents a continued more experimental, eclectic shift from his earlier releases, which embraced a more upbeat indie rock/pop sound — shown on the excellent, previously featured album Stay at Home to Sleep In.
“This song has always haunted and grabbed me in a profound way, instantly from the first time I heard it,” Lonely Gimmick says of “Sit and Wonder.” “I used to drive around with a “100 % dynamite” reggae funk compilation CD blasting from my Subaru car. This CD compilation just happened to feature this song. We would sometimes just park up in a random carpark with my friends and excuse the pun “sit and wonder” with this track on repeat. I knew I had to try to do my own version one day. I wanted to honor Prince Buster’s essence, but filter it through my bedroom pop lens. This song always takes me back to that teenage memory of driving around Kingston, Canada.”
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
