John's Track of the Week: "Love Me"

Song: Love Me

Artist: Department of Eagles

Album: Sweetheart

Year: 2009

Contrary to my original beliefs going into this article, this is not the first time we've had a cover song as a track of the week.  Still, back in February, many readers may remember Starbucks' Valentine's Day mixtape, Sweetheart, which featured indie artists covering their favorite love songs for hipsters and others to enjoy.  Ever since, I've been listening to the best track on the record, "Love Me," an Elvis Presley cover by Department of Eagles.  On this particular song, Daniel Rossen's haunting, doo-woppy voice becomes the perfect substitute for The King, complete with a few falsetto jumps that Elvis himself may have struggled to reach.

If you enjoy the new sounds of Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles, I can pretty much guarantee you'll like this one.  As covers go, I feel it does what's asked of it- re-imagining and reworking a song in their own vision, rather than just playing an exact copy of the original work.   Since DoE is less about lyrics and more about the music behind it, this one becomes a bit more intriguing, since it sets lyrics into the forefront of a fairly simple background.  The band passes with flying colors, of course, so I'd recommend checking this one out, to those who have not done so already.