The Endless Coloured Ways

There is a new biography of Nick Drake out on the shelves, and this double set comprises 23 covers of Drake's immortal songs, divided into four ‘seasons’ and featuring an eclectic set of indie-rock and folk artists, ranging from Irish post-punk band Fontaines DC and their hazy, propulsive remake of ‘’Cello Song’, through French singer Camille's whispery, minimalist ‘Hazey Jane II’, to Tuung's Mike Lindsay with Elbow's Guy Garvey revisiting ‘Saturday Sun’, lightly drizzled in horns. And that's just on side one.

Side two of the vinyl has Stick in the Wheel slap on some autotune for the dark, troubling ‘Parasite’, while Karine Polwart & Kris Drever unite successfully over ‘Northern Sky’. Side three stars a harmonising union between Bombay Bicycle Club and The Staves on ‘Road’, while Katherine Priddy's version of the rare outtake, ‘I Think They’re Leaving Me Behind’ is a gem of extreme lyrical melancholy.

You’ll also hear from the likes of John Grant and US rocker Liz Phair on side four, with John Parrish, Feist, David Gray, Emeli Sandé and Ben Harper also adding their place cards to an impressive cast of players who come, like many before, to offer themselves up to Nick Drake's genius. I predict yet another generation of listeners will be in thrall.