Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 10/18/2011 at 4:48 PM News

The Popdust Files: '90s, covers, everything but the girl, reunions, the xx

It’s just a good day for ’90s groups with super-ethereal vocalists making comebacks, we suppose. After news of Mazzy Star’s return-to-be this Halloween, we now also have a transmission from Tracy Thorn and Ben Watt, better known as UK duo Everything But the Girl. EBTG started out as a sophisticated lounge act in the ’80s, but turned into dancefloor heavy-hitters in the mid-’90s thanks to Todd Terry’s remix of their classic loneliness anthem “Missing” becoming a smash hit. The duo then went on a musical hiatus starting in the late-’90s, which had lasted until new music leaked from them earlier today.

Well, actually, the music’s not entirely new. It’s a cover of “Night Time,” an album track from The xx’s super-acclaimed self-titled debut, eventually to be part of a covers EP released by Thorn solo (though Watt provides backing vocals and guitar work here). Given that the two acts are kindred spirits of sorts—both male/female duo that used the soundscape of electronic music to write love and/or heartbreak songs of incredible intimacy—it’s a good fit for a cover, and the track sounds neither disrespectful or overly faithful, but just a solid reinterpretation by a band that probably understands pretty well where the original is coming from.

Listen to the cover over at Pitchfork, and check out the xx’s original, as well as the EBTG classic that still sounds just as stunning 16 years down the road, below: