Listen to Eartheater’s tranquil cover of System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!”
It’s the second single from her next album, Powders, due out next week.
Eartheater has shared the second single from her fifth solo studio album, Powder, due out September 20 via her own label, Chemical X. Along with her announcement of next week’s project last month, the Queens-based experimental pop singer shared that she’ll have another album, Aftermath, out sometime in 2024.
The follow-up to Powder’s lead offering (“Pure Smile Snake Venom”) is a cover of System of a Down’s classic 2001 headbanger “Chop Suey!” — a track initially called “Self-Righteous Suicide,” according to Rick Rubin, before label execs objected.
Eartheater’s version is a slowed-down, peaceful take rendered solely in (overdubbed) vocals and acoustic guitar until the final minute, when crashing drums and arpeggiated keys enter to bring the song to a climax. Whether the melancholy of her rendition or the vitriol of SOAD’s original is a better representation of the tragic decision to take one’s own life is not an item on today’s docket. But it would be hard to make the case that Eartheater isn’t doing the track justice.
“‘Chop Suey’ is irresistible and undeniable, a hymn and prayer that bridges so many experiences,” Eartheater explains, “the best example of contemporary folklore, where a song becomes the people’s song.”
Watch the visualizer for “Chop Suey,” stream the track on its own, check out Powder’s cover art and tracklist, and see Eartheater’s upcoming Europe and U.S. tour dates below.
Powders album art and tracklist
1. Sugarcane Switch
2. Crushing
3. Face in the Moon
4. Clean Break
5. Chop Suey
6. Heels over Head
7. Mona Lisa Moan
8. Pure Smile Snake Venom
9. Salt of the Earth (H2ome)
Eartheater fall 2023 tour dates
November 6 - Berlin, DE - Betonhalle (SOLD OUT)
November 8 - Copenhagen, DK - Vega
November 10 - Oslo, NO - MUNCH
November 11 - Helsinki, FI - Ääniwalli
November 13 - London, EN - Village Underground (SOLD OUT)
November 15 - Warsaw, PL - Hybrydy
November 18 - Bern, CH - Full of Lava Festival
November 29 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair
December 1 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere (SOLD OUT)
December 2 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
December 4- Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
December 7 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
December 8 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour (SOLD OUT)
December 11 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
December 15 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere