It's been a great week for snappy reworkings of fab pop tunes, as anyone who's heard buzzy local trio Palehound cover Kelly Clarkson's "Miss Independent" already knows. What could possibly be as good, you ask? We've got the answer: a fresh take on "Hanging Around," a deep cut by Swedish pop group the Cardigans, as rendered by Speedy Ortiz, a much-admired Boston indie-rock outfit whose latest album, "Foil Deer," has racked up some well-deserved hosannas since its release in April.
"I wonder what it's like, seeing through your eyes," Cardigans vocalist Nina Persson ponders at the start of the lean, melancholy original version, adding on the chorus, "I'm hanging on to the same old song." It's fitting, then, that singer-guitarist Sadie Dupuis and her mates don't deviate far from the course Persson & Co. established. The tune gains some heft — and, this being Speedy Ortiz, some gangly, thrust-elbow guitar play — but the anxious edge of the original is preserved.
"In December, Speedy played a hometown residency at our beloved hangout spot Great Scott," Dupuis says of the new recording. "We tried not to repeat any songs over the course of three shows — four, actually, if you include the one we played in a basement under a fake name. That meant playing at least 40 (!) original songs for our Boston pals, plus a few covers, one of which was this album track from the Cardigans' 1998 release 'Gran Turismo.'"
That Speedy Ortiz would disclose an affinity for this particular forebear seems natural enough, as Dupuis explains it: "The Cardigans make really smart pop music dosed with contradictory textural choices — crunchy guitars, moody electronics, seemingly intentional tape warping. Their hits are pretty well known, and are all great, but I love 'Hanging Around' for its detached, spooky lyrics. This song could be about cognitive dissonance, or it could be about some invading body snatchers — maybe both? We stayed pretty true to the original on this one, 'cuz we think the original is so good."
The instruments, Dupuis explains, were recorded by Palehound's Jesse Weiss at Studio 52 in Allston, with vocals taped "in Jesse's bedroom while staring at his Chavez poster for inspiration."
This Sunday, Speedy Ortiz boards the Provincetown II to embark upon the season's final Rock and Blues Concert Cruise, which boards at noon for a three-hour tour. As Globe music critic James Reed noted in citing the show, "You can expect the guitar solos to be as choppy as the waters." Confronted with sea breeze, will Dupuis and crew pull out their spiffy Cardigans cover? There's only one way to find out: grab some tickets.
Steve Smith can be reached at steven.smith@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nightafternight.