If the Postal Service’s original is a wonderful meeting of beat and beauty, a sublime swirl of ambience and gentle energies, Plans to Sand’s take on “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” moves it further into the realms of haze and harmony, a place of understatement and ethereality. And not only do you have to admire this astute and delicate arrangement, you, of course, have to admire their taste in covering such a song in the first place, not to mention bravery. I can’t, off the top of my head, think of another band that has been bold enough to enter such territory.
But enter it they do, and make it their own. Sparse and slightly jagged guitars deal with most of the sonic duties, at least until the song heads for the finish line and wraps itself in bigger sounds. But the real revelation is the use of vocals, not just through charming lead lines, but intercut harmonies, voice as instrument, the ebb and flow of different dynamics from the hushed to the heavenly, a soundscape made through the first instrument ever conceived. The word soundscape is over used, but this is essentially a vocal soundscape.
Gorgeous! It’s as simple as that; this song is gorgeous. Fans of the original will love the blend of reverence and rejuvenation here, and if you don’t know the original, I would say that if you have this new renedering in your record collection, it almost doesn’t matter.
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