Stranger Blue EP Out Today

Our 5-track EP of cover songs, including another new release – the Bonnie Raitt classic I Can’t Make You Love Me - is out today on all streaming platforms.

2024 was a year of pause and reflection for me, though much of it was spent working with Steve Birkett on new, original material for release later this year.  In keeping with tradition, we released a cover song in December, this time choosing Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.  We followed this up in February with the Sananda Maitraya (Terence Trent D’Arby) track Sign Your Name.

The original intention was to release one more cover song this month, but the very positive response to the first two, coupled with the huge amount of enjoyment that we have had from delivering own own interpretations of these classic tracks, prompted us to release the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah in March and to create a collection. The latest four releases are being put together with the 2023 Christmas release – Melissa Etheridge’s This War Is Over – to create the 5-track EP. 

I Can’t Make You Love Me is another one of the cover songs that we have in our ‘stripped back trio’ sets, chosen because we love them, and they deliver an interesting contrast to the original material from our Stripped Back album, released in 2021. We did a version of Hallelujah as our Christmas 2018 cover song, but it was a very low-key release on YouTube, so we decided to deliver a fresh interpretation for all digital platforms.

If all goes according to plan, the first of the new, original tracks will be released in May.  A series of further singles will lead up to the release of a new album on Friday 31 October 2025.

We’ve been delighted with the response to the first two covers. It was always our intention to release a third one, but in looking at all the covers we’d done we felt that we should also revisit Hallelujah with a new perspective. Also from that discussion, the idea of pulling this batch of cover songs into an EP was born, not least to make them easy to find on the streaming platforms. As I’ve said before, we love performing these songs, each one of which is a classic. I particularly enjoy the vocal challenge presented by each track, and the range of vocals across all the songs. I’m really looking forward to our new material, but this has been a thoroughly enjoyable interlude and I’m so pleased with the reaction the first three tracks have received.

This project has enabled us to look at many aspects of the process of recording and production, as well as highlighting what we can do vocally and musically, and it’s prompted us to think about which elements we can draw into our original music. It’s been a lovely diversion, and now I can’t wait to get the new, original material out there.

Rebecca xx

Track Details

01 Sign Your Name

02 I Can’t Make You Love Me

03 Crazy

04 Hallelujah

05 This War Is Over

01 Written by Sananda Maitraya (Terence Trent D’Arby). Original version © BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited.

02 Written by James Allen Shamblin and Michael Barry Reid. Original version © BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited.

03 Written by Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse), Thomas Calloway (aka CeeLo Green), Gian Franco Reverberi and Gian Piero Reverberi. Original version © Warner Music Group.

04 Written by Leonard Cohen. Original version © Sony/ATV Music publishing (UK) Ltd

05 Written by Melissa Etheridge. Original version © BMG Rights Management, Unison Rights S.L.

These versions © ℗ Mad Hat Records Limited 2025

Digital distribution is by Cargo Records.