Beastwars Turn the Volume Up on a Beautiful Nadia Reid Song

Feeling tired this Friday after a long week? Let Beastwars covering Nadia Reid awaken you from your doldrums.

The Wellington heavyweights are preparing for the release of their fifth studio album, Tyranny of Distance, in October, its eight tracks set to cover the common themes of “despair, loneliness and existential frustration.”

Tyranny of Distance is also a covers album, spanning 40 years, of New Zealand music, and the third single taken from it is a cover of Nadia Reid’s “High & Lonely”.

“This is such a haunting powerhouse of a song from one of Aotearoa’s finest, it takes a knife and slices through the loneliness in the room,” says Beastwars frontman Matt Hyde. “Screams at desire and the pointlessness of love if you are not in the presence of each other. Come to the carnival, it screams, a carnival of downfall and desire. That only makes sense when someone is in too deep.”

“High & Lonely” follows “Waves”, originally performed by ’90s Flying Nun band Superette, and ‘Identity”, a rendition of The Gordon’s 1984 song.

Beastwars’ full album will also feature covers of The 3Ds, Marlon Williams, and more. “We joked we should call this Tyranny of Distance Volume 1 as we all had so many songs that we would love to record,” as the band’s drummer Nathan Hickey joked to Rolling Stone AU/NZ recently.

To celebrate their new album, Beastwars will hit the road for a national tour later this year. Beginning in Whanganui on album release day, they’ll then visit New Plymouth, Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin throughout the rest of October and November (see full dates below).