David Bowie Cover of the Week: Eivør does “Cat People”

What a week for cat people! But enough about American politics. I found this excellent, cinematic cover of “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” released by Power Haus Creative, which, from what I can gather, does music for movie trailers, commercials, and other custom purposes. This version of the song sounds well-suited for a movie trailer.

The YouTube video credits Christian Reindl as producer and Eivør as the vocalist. From her website, which you can access HERE, Eivør is a musician from the Faroe Islands who draws inspiration from her homeland’s natural scenery and traditional culture. Her music is influenced by the Faroese landscape’s extremes and the folk traditions. Eivør’s distinctive guttural singing technique is inspired by beatboxing, throat-singing, and heavy metal growling. Not all of that is on display here, but her performance enhances the song’s inherent sense of vastness and scale. Sadly, there isn’t a visual element to the video, but if there were, I could imagine the singer performing on a snowy, barren landscape overlooking an icy waterway. But maybe that’s just me.

Eivør‘s latest album, Enn, was released on June 14, 2024.

Reindl also has his own web page, which you can access HERE. Christian is a music producer and artist known for his work on official soundtracks and trailers for various high-profile projects, including tracks featured in films, TV shows, and games. His music often combines dramatic and cinematic elements, fitting for high-energy and emotionally intense visual media. You’ll know exactly what I mean when you listen to this. Spoiler alert, though—at no point in this recording does a deep-voiced man break into the music and say, “In a world…”

Bowie wrote and recorded “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” originally for the movie Cat People. He put a more upbeat version on Let’s Dance. More than any other soundtrack song I can think of, this one has been recycled for other movies, like Atomica and Inglorious Basterds. So the movie-trailer treatment here seems to be appropriate. It might be my favorite Bowie recording from the 1980s (well, at least from the post-Scary Monsters 1980s). This team does a great job of reconnecting the song to its cinematic roots while building off Bowie’s original foundation.

OK— one last link— Power Haus of course has it’s own website, too, and to learn more about the company, click HERE.