Mark Lanegan, Earth’s Dylan Carlson Share Cover of Galaxie 500’s ‘Summertime’

Mark Lanegan and Earth’s Dylan Carlson released their contribution to the ongoing Galaxie 500 tribute series with a cover of the dream-pop outfit’s 1990 song, “Summertime.”

The pair recorded the cover in a charmingly cluttered studio space; Carlson set a slightly quicker tempo than the original as he conjured the kind of hypnotic, fuzz-blasted guitar tone requisite for any proper Galaxie 500 cover. Accompanied by tambourines, Lanegan delivered the song with some sweet, no-frills vocals, letting the song’s story of young love settle in softly before hitting the little twist at the end: “Going to the movies/I found a shelter from the sun/Heard a gruesome story/About a couple on the run.”

“Dylan Carlson and I giving the garage treatment to one of my favorite songs by Galaxie 500, one of the all-time great bands,” Lanegan said in a statement.

Lanegan and Carlson’s rendition of “Summertime” is the latest in a month-long celebration of Galaxie 500 leading up to the Record Store Day reissue of the band’s live LP Copenhagen, out August 29th. The cover series came about after a Galaxie 500 tribute concert — also planned to coincide with the Copenhagen reissue — was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Twenty artists contributed to the cover series; those who have released songs so far include Thurston Moore, Xiu Xiu, the Feelies’ Glenn Mercer, Rachel Haden, Haley Fohr and Surfer Blood. The series will continue through August 28th, with additional performances coming from Calvin Johnson, Mercury Rev, the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt and Real Estate. All performances are available to watch on the 20-20-20 website.