Musician, author, and film composer Michael Hearst (One Ring Zero, Songs For Ice Cream Trucks, Unusual Creatures) will release 80 cover songs from the 1980s featuring guest vocals by Amanda Palmer, John Cameron Mitchell, AC Newman, Syd Straw, Jonathan Coulton, Claudia Gonson, Stephin Merritt, Tanya Donelly, Krystle Warren, John Linnell, Jamie Lenman, Allyssa Lamb, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Xavier Smith, Martha Wainwright, and many others.

Individual tracks will be released worldwide digitally every other Tuesday, starting with the September 10th, 2024 release of the Til Tuesday hit “Voices Carry” featuring vocalist Syd Straw.

The project is driven by the rise in nostalgia for the 80s which may be part of a “longing for the simplicity of that time amidst today’s technological complexities.”

In 2024, inspired by the thought of teaching his 10-year-old son about 80s’ music, Michael Hearst began recording his own versions of classics, such as “Break My Stride” by Mathew Wilder and “Hold Me Now” by Thompson Twins. Hearst is an avid collector and player of unusual and hand-crafted instruments, including theremin, accordion, and daxophone.

After inviting his close friend and fellow 80s music lover Claudia Gonson (Magnetic Fields) to pick a song to sing, he decided to reach out to other friends including Tanya Donelly (Belly), John Linnell (They Might Be Giants), The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, and Syd Straw to pick songs to sing for the project.

They in turn suggested some of their friends to join the fun: John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig), AC Newman (New Pornogrpahers), Amanda Palmer, Xavier Smith, and many more. Thus he set about to record 80 of these reboots.

Michael Hearst is a founding member of the band One Ring Zero, who have released nine albums, including the literary collaboration As Smart As We Are, featuring lyrics by Paul Auster, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, among others. Also including Planets, a collection of new compositions to represent the solar system and beyond, and The Recipe Project, in which the band has taken recipes from today’s top chefs (Michael Symon, Tom Colicchio, David Chang, etc.), and sing them word for word.

The initial batch of 80s releases will include:

1. “Voices Carry” w/ Syd Straw (‘Til Tuesday)

2. “You Dropped A Bomb On Me” w/ Stephin Merritt and Xavier Smith (Gap Band)

3. “In My Room” w/ Tanya Donelly (Yazoo)

4. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” w/ Jonathan Coulton (Crowded House)

5. “Lovecats” w/ John Cameron Mitchell (The Cure)