Porridge Radio are back with a new song, a cover of “Happy in a Crowd” by Chicago lo-fi artist Love is Everything (aka Bobby Burg). “In 2016, I joined the band Garden Centre and we did a very DIY UK tour supporting Love of Everything,” writes Porridge Radio’s Dana Margolin. “I remember watching Bobby perform for the first time and being completely captivated. Bobby’s live set was really spontaneous and playful, but still managed to convey something really profoundly intimate. Bobby’s sets really showed me the way that a song can change every time you play it live, and that you can embrace the unpredictable and chaotic and fun parts of songs and they can still be perfect and hit really hard.”

Dana adds, “A song that really stuck with me was ‘Happy In A Crowd,’ and this bleak January I learnt how to play it on guitar after Bobby randomly got in touch, and sent my cover to Sam [Yardley] who had never heard the song before. We made this cover together, with Sam producing it, and we’re really happy with how it turned out. I feel like something has come full circle through releasing this cover and I’m so glad we get to share it.”

Their cover of “Happy in a Crowd” maintains the essence of Bobby’s original but makes it very much a Porridge Radio song, with melodic, strummed bass, melancholic piano and lots of atmosphere. Listen to that, and Love is Everything’s version, below.

Porridge Radio released a deluxe edition of their excellent second album, Every Bad, last year, and contributed to Lost Horizons also great album In Quiet Moments.

You can pick up the deluxe edition of In Quiet Moments, which comes on ocean blue and green vinyl, with a wide-spined sleeve on uncoated/reverse board and is housed in a cool PVC outer sleeve with printed text, plus an autographed art card, in the BrooklynVegan shop.