A new beginning is immediately obvious when a galvanic guitar feeds us into an upped tempo, the most noticeable change on Boxing Club’s version, providing a sense of urgency that remarkably changes the perspective of the unchanged lyrics.
“Feel your breath in my face / Your body close to me” holds more tension as snares build into electric guitars on this moodier reimagining. On this, the band say: “Rather than hearing a classic love song, Boxing Club heard a story about self-doubt and the quiet fear that the person you love belongs to a world that you’ll never quite belong in”. This attitude is precisely in line with their tendency to dig deep and really explore relationships beyond a surface level, as shown on the tracks on their recent (and first) EP, ‘What’s The State Done To You?’.
Also breathing new life into the song is the band’s innate trait of placing a Glaswegian lens over the music, with new inflections on certain words (“I can nae look in her eyes”) truly revamping the initial work - and with thrilling instruments to match.
The lead singer’s voice bellows theatrically as the notion behind the lyrics is fortified and more urgent. Comparatively, the original - which Patrick Swayze co-wrote with Stacy Widelitz - has a steady pace and doesn’t explode into the chorus, so as to maintain its stance as a slow, heartbreak anthem.
Out today, it’s certainly worth listening to both tracks back-to-back and hearing the transition and emotion that Boxing Club build on spectacularly, transforming an already-loved anthem for a new generation and genre.
Kai Palmer
Image: ‘She’s Like The Wind’ Official Single Cover
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