Hats by Pure Bathing Culture

When we decided to cover Hats we had no idea what it would become, we just loved the music so much and were so inspired by The Blue Nile that it felt like a journey we were destined to take. It was a dream come true to have the chance to pay homage to a work that we admired so much, we knew we could never replicate the original so we set out to make something that felt really personal and authentic to us. There is so much nostalgia and longing in the music, the songs are somehow simultaneously extremely sad but also intensely romantic and modern. It was a dream to dig into the songs and bring them into our world. This is the first album we recorded and mixed entirely on our own in our home studio here in Portland, OR which made finding ourselves in this music even more rewarding and special.

Everything else that’s happened as a result has been pure magic. From finding out Ben Gibbard is also a huge Blue Nile fan and then having the chance to collaborate with him on the project to getting a chance to collaborate with San Fermin on these new versions of our original recordings. We’re thrilled to share this version of Hats with the world.

A duo with a knack for making music that sounds unearthly yet familiar. The beautiful strangeness of Sarah Versprille and Daniel Hindman's music dominated their 2013 debut album Moon Tides; on later albums, such as 2015's Pray for Rain and 2019's Night Pass, they streamlined their sound and put their catchy songwriting front and center.