Alex Cameron has released a new single featuring covers of two songs from Kenny Rogers‘ 1983 album Eyes That See in the Dark that was produced (and mostly written) by The Bee-Gees‘ Barry Gibb. He covers the classic Kenny / Dolly Parton duet “Islands in the Stream” with Roan Yellowthorn’s Jackie McLean (with Roy Molloy on sax), and the b-side is “Midsummer Nights,” which features Jonathan Rado. Says Alex:

I’ve almost lost friends over Barry Gibb’s songs. They’re so important to me, whenever anyone else covers his songs, or even expresses a love for them – I become possessed by some pubescent demon. These songs speak to you and you alone, it tells me. Hell, I even play a Guild Songbird on stage, Barry Gibb’s guitar of choice – against the pleas of sound techs in venues the world over. Of course the demon is wrong, and it’s time I let those possessive feelings go. This single is an attempt to rid myself of that jealous spirit. The one that says this music is mine, and only I understand it. Before I asked the good people of the internet to submit requests for a cover song – I considered ‘Islands In The Stream’ untouchable. And a big part of me thinks it still is. I’m lucky Roan Yellowthorn agreed to sing it with me. She carries the recording, and gave me license to sing on it with her. Justin Nijssen produced it with me, and plays bass and guitar on the track. He was my therapist, and led me to a breakthrough, creating the mantra I was to repeat to myself at night: ‘No one has dibs on Gibbs’. And of course Roy Molloy is there with us, on the saxophone. The B-side – ‘Midsummer Nights’, as a song – is perhaps the closest thing to perfection in the world of pop music. Jonathan Rado did all the music on the recording. You can hear that he understands how important that tune is to me, and to all of us. And so here it is, the music that is no longer just for me, from our crew to yours.

Listen to both songs below.