Bringing something new and worthwhile to a cover song is one of the hardest lifts in music, but this re-imagining of “empty me” from the grungy, growling, and gorgeous 2024 Death Waits album Burn Everything hits the mark.

The original is a fierce grungy beast, recalling the sort of early aughts hard rock you used to be able to find in college towns if you wandered into the right bar on a good night, with frenetic crescendos and howling backup vocals.

Kid Lightbulbs is a master at building soundscapes with fascinating beats, lush arrangements, and his intoxicating voice.

Here, he scrubs the anger off the song entirely and lets the melancholy and resignation float to the surface. The intro stretches to nearly the halfway point of the track, his uneasy piano serving as canvas for a stack of haunted, dissonant flourishes.

The vocal is delivered in a flippant, almost mocking tone, heightening the discomfort. “I don’t know why you even bother coming round here anymore” comes off like a challenge.

Both tracks are worth a place in your collection.