Pitchfork

Ah, covers records. There are plenty of 'em out there. And yet, how many artists have had their songs covered by an ensemble of clear-voiced French schoolchildren? Now there's at least one: Seattle-based singer/songwriter Laura Veirs.

Last spring, the Young Rapture Choir, a group of 35 students (ages 9 to 15) from Cognac, France, recorded a live concert featuring original arrangements of nine of Veirs' songs. Engineer Tucker Martine (who has worked with Veirs, the Decemberists, Jesse Sykes, and Sufjan Stevens) recorded the Langley Schools-esque show, which featured accompaniment from cello, recorders, and a teen rock band.

Raven Marching Band Records recently released a limited run (3,000 copies) of the performance, complete with handmade paper-cut covers. A portion of the proceeds will go towards new instruments for the school's music program.

Veirs explained how the concert came about on the Nonesuch Records blog: "About a year and a half ago during a tour through France, a man named Patrice introduced himself after a show. He told me he was teaching some of my songs to his middle school music class. 'Wow, I'd love to hear a recording,' I told him. A few months later, back in Seattle, I received a package with their renditions of 'Rapture' and 'The Cloud Room'. Forty-five pure, young, French-accented voices piped through my speakers, and I sat there dumbstruck. Accompanied by cello on the first song and a rock band on the second, this mysterious children's choir gave me the surprising gift of hearing my songs in a whole new light."