Soap&Skin: “Me and the Devil”

Soap&Skin is a solo project from Austrian musician Anja Plaschg. Talented in music from a very young age, she spent a number of years pursuing graphic art before dropping out of school to pursue music full-time. She released her first EP in 2008, following that up with a full-length album in 2009 which was received well not only in Austria but also in Germany, Belgium, and France. She has since released several EPs and, in 2012, another full-length album, for which she recently finished touring.

Her newest EP, released in March of this year, contains a cover of 1930s blues legend Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil.” Plaschg attacks the blues classic with an atmospheric energy reminiscent of Florence and the Machine. She takes the stripped down style of the original and recasts it in a minor key, layering thick string chords over a pounding rhythm to create a dramatic work of sonic art. The deeply embedded bluesy feeling of the song remains, but it is evoked in a highly non-traditional sense. The result is a piece of music that is more of a loose interpretation than a cover, a grand stylistic departure from the essential original version.