Covering an album in its entirety isn’t a new idea, though the vast majority of such undertakings are various artists affairs and not typically the work of one entity. The latest exception to the mini-genre arrives from Brooklyn/Raleigh, North Carolina indie rock duo The Rosebuds, who have recorded Sade’s Love Deluxe from start to finish.

Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp shared their tribute on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Love Deluxe, the English band’s fourth album, released in the U.S. on November 11, 1992. Crisp describes their close kinship with the music of Sade and how the project came to be:

“To say this album is a constant influence to The Rosebuds and the records we’ve made over the years would be an understatement. We’ve always been fans. Ivan’s been covering Sade songs since I’ve known him — he sings them in the house, he sings them while driving, he sings them with or without a guitar in hand, he sings them when he doesn’t even realize he’s singing aloud. It’s the language he hears music in. Ivan spent some time on the North Carolina coast where he set up a small apartment — a surf camp and home studio. He’d gone to the beach to enjoy the off-season isolation, to surf, and to work on some new Rosebuds demos we have. I was delighted when he came back to Brooklyn and presented me with his own fully-tracked version of ‘Love Deluxe.’ Its only elements are the instruments Ivan drove down with, and the friends who stopped by to contribute — Rob Lackey, drums; Matt Douglas, Saxophone; Jonathan Yu, keyboards. We set about mixing it right away.

Upon first listen to Ivan’s version of ‘Love Deluxe,’ I was struck by how organic it is. Where many of the electronic elements of the original had been beautiful to me, to listen to this new live-instrument sound Ivan had quick-captured is to listen directly to his evolving relationship with the music. It’s a documentation of a living connection. Please download and share this tribute recording of a record that means so much to us.”

Listen to the lady, who knows of what she speaks. Like Sade’s original, the duo’s Love Deluxe re-do best listened to with the lights dimmed low, a bottle of wine, and the company of another (if within arm’s reach). The Rosebuds’ windswept cover of “Kiss Of Life” is particularly notable:

Free download of The Rosebuds – Love Deluxe: The Rosebuds perform Sade via Bandcamp.