After a tour together last year, Thao Nguyen (Thao With the Get Down Stay Down) and singer-songwriter Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn carved out some studio time to record an album as Thao & Mirah. The self-titled set was released at the end of April.

To promote the album, the nascent indie-rock duo recorded an intimate live session for The Bay Bridged’s “New, Improved, LIVE!” series. In addition to doing three songs from their album, Thao & Mirah rounded out the set with a cover of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield.”

In the fall of 1983, Benatar’s career-best single, written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight (“Better Be Good To Me,” “The Best”), spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard Rock chart and reached #5 on the Hot 100.

With Thao banging out a a tribal-beat on the drums, “Love Is A Battlefield” becomes quite the rumble, while Mirah and Andrew Maguire (Honeycomb) band together on the vibraphone. No one can tell them they’re wrong:

Free download of Thao & Mirah – “Love Is A Battlefield” (Pat Benatar cover) via The Bay Bridged.