In 2000, Neil Halstead’s post-Slowdive band Mojave 3 released Excuses For Travellers, their third LP. That album includes “My Life In Art,” a seven-minute lullaby about a night in a Kansas strip club with a girl named Wendy, who left her abusive husband and who wishes she could move to Las Vegas, where the money is better. She laughs at the “pretty boy” narrator’s sheltered existence, while he asks about her life in art. Underground emo-rap types like Lil Peep and Bones have sampled “My Life In Art,” and now Babehoven and Squirrel Flower have come together to cover it.
The dreamy Hudson Valley indie duo Babehoven released their album Light Moving Time in 2022, and they’ve contributed to a bunch of benefit compilations since then. Now, Maya Bon, one half of the duo, has linked up with Ella Williams, the Chicago musician who records as Squirrel Flower, to cover “My Life In Art.” Squirrel Flower’s album Tomorrow’s Fire came out in 2023. Last year, she took part in the mass exodus of artists who wanted nothing to do with SXSW, and she led an epic all-star cover of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer” at Stereogum and Topshelf’s decidedly non-SXSW Austin night party.
Babehoven and Squirrel Flower’s take on “My Life In Art” is pretty faithful to the original, and that’s a good thing. It’s a beautiful song, and it really gains something from the way their voices delicately intertwine with each other. The big ending is devastating. Below, check out the Babehoven/Squirrel Flower cover and the Mojave 3 original.
Babehoven and Squirrel Flower’s “My Life In Art” cover is out now on Polyvinyl.
