Oklahoma-raised, Brooklyn- and DC-based artist Bartees Strange presents his re-imaginings of songs by The National in studio. Both a heartfelt homage and a political act of critique, he takes inspiration from the music, the lyrics, and even the cover art to examine how black artists can find room in white spaces.

The idea for his debut EP, Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy (out March 13), started when Strange attended a concert of The National in 2019 and he was surprised by how few black people were there to watch, and he asked himself the questions: "Why was it so rare to see black people at shows like these, to see black musicians freed from reductive definitions of genre, to see black acts with this level of success in a genre that is deeply informed by legacies of black music in America?"

So he focused his attention on reinterpreting and translating their songs through a personal lens, acknowledging the possibilities and contradictions within the genre.

Read more at Bandcamp.

Watch the session here: