This is a strange one. The first time through, it just sounds like another bourgeois self harmer with a history let loose in a studio; a self pity main with funereal piano side dish. You think, “well, is that it?” The second time through you think, “hmmm there’s something to this, CatPower sounds so sad, why doesn’t she ever sing the chorus to (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction?” You ponder the absences.

The third time through you realise that there’s something pretty intense going on. You find yourself sitting in the spaces between the breathing, the intake and outake of air. You find yourself filled with sorrow and fragility. Someone could tap you with a pencil and you’d break into fragments like you were made of ice.

After that, everytime you play The Covers Album, you remind yourself that music is more than the sum of its parts. In all the cracks and groans and whispers, there’s something very special at the heart of this beguiling collection of minimal cover versions.