One year ago, head trauma from a bike accident sent Birthdays' Sammy Yager into a coma; today he's walking and talking and and beginning to make music again :-). To celebrate his recovery, his friend Noah Klein, aka Cuddle Formation, just released this mega-uplifting cover of the Birthdays song "Part that Grows." The opening section merits an extra call-out, as Klein explains: "The pump noise in the beginning is the breathing tube doing its thing. As I was recording, Emily [Reo] was talking to Sammy in a coma, which is what the 'Are you ticklish, Sammy? That's something the doctors haven't tried' is." Also the song sounds amazing, just this tender expression of a tender thought. What is today? A day on Earth? A chance to tell someone you love them.
Download: Cuddle Formation, "Part that Grows" (Birthdays Cover"
Below, read more about the song and find a link to more Birthdays covers. And P.S., stay tuned for a rad story in The FADER's upcoming print edition with Klein and Reo about their country-spanning tour of community arts spaces.
NOAH KLEIN: today is the one year anniversary of one of my favorite people in the world not dying. this time last year when i heard that my best friend was in a coma it was fucking devastating, but seeing the physical progress, the life changes, and the personal growth that he's made makes this a day for celebration. sammy didn't die :')
you might know sammy better through his aural output as birthdays, it's how we met, and as a musical miracle as well as a human being he's effected the spirits of everyone who comes near. at the time of his accident i was living in boston, as part of a magical community space called dreamhaus that sammy contributed so much to, and over the following week we organized a fundraiser called sammyfest. emily reo, yohuna, mutual benefit, caleb johannes (of truman peyote), and myself each played short sets highlighted by a cover of one of sammy's brilliant songs, but sammy never had the chance to hear them. a month later when our lease in boston ended and emily and myself left to tour the country via tour64, sammy was still in a coma. it was a fucked situation. to keep him with us i played my cover of part that grows every night and today i want to give it back. thank you sammy for waking up. i love you. we love you. here.
