Brendan Angelides’ take on David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid Of Americans” opens on a springy, bouncing pulse that pushes the song forward in a more electronic direction than the original.
The vocal from Serj Tankian is well delivered and sits clearly over the groove while rhythmic elements hop and skip around it. Production adds small, glitchy distractions — clipped hits and stutters — that interrupt moments of predictability and inject extra energy into the arrangement.
Additional vocal layers — credited in the release to Eliza Bagg and to Angelides’ children — appear as textural touches rather than focal elements, which keeps attention on the interplay between voice and rhythm. The cover leans less on Bowie’s original mood and more on momentum: it bounces a little more and feels distinctly electronic in its pacing and colour.
Angelides, who previously released music as ESKMO and has spent time composing for film and television, has announced the album Can You Feel The End Begin? for release via Ancestor on 14 August; this single sits alongside that announcement and gives a sense of the record’s more direct, production-forward moments.
It’s an interesting reimagining: the rhythmic bounce and crisp production make the track work, and while the glitchy bits occasionally distract, they also stop it from becoming a straightforward cover.
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