Perfume Genius and the Knocks Cover Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy”: Listen

Perfume Genius (Camille Vivier), Bronski Beat (David Corio/Getty Images), the Knocks (Joe Perri)

The Knocks and Perfume Genius have joined forces to cover Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy,” celebrating the 40th anniversary of its parent album, The Age of Consent. The cover is described, by Bronski Beat’s own Jimmy Somerville, as “a beautiful echo coming back after travelling a long and eventful distance.” Check it out below.

Perfume Genius said in a press release, “When you’re trying to sing an iconic song, you want to make sure that you can do it justice and then also add your own information without fucking with it too much, you know? So it’s a tall order but I was really, really excited.” See how they did below.

The Knocks’ Ben Ruttner added, “We wanted to really keep it close to the original but just give it a little more of a modern dance floor feel. Perfume Genius already brings such a cool new element to it, so we just wanted to support his voice as much as possible while giving it a little bit of The Knocks dance pop touch. That main synth sound is so iconic so we wanted that to be the main star of the show, still.”

Read Laura Snapes’ Sunday Review of The Age of Consent. An anniversary reissue of the record is due on October 18, via London Records.

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork