Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 2 (EP) - Red Vinyl

Cuntry Covers Vol. 2 finds Toronto’s Bria Salmena sinking even further into the dusty twilight world she first mapped out on Vol. 1, tilting familiar songs just enough that they feel like half-remembered dreams. It’s a lean set of covers arranged with care by Salmena and longtime collaborator Duncan Hay Jennings, and the way they carve out space is the real hook. Nothing feels rushed. Guitars hang in the air like cigarette smoke, percussion nudges rather than pushes, and Salmena’s voice sits in front, weathered and close, like she’s singing a secret across a small room.

The concept sounds simple, but the execution is sly. Bria pulls from different corners of the songbook and finds a shared pulse. Their take on Paula Cole’s Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? dials down the radio gloss and leans into the lyric’s uneasy ache. You can hear the arrangement thinking sentence by sentence, stripping back the chorus so the question lands with a dull thud rather than a shout. On Mary Margaret O’Hara’s When You Know Why You’re Happy, they slip into a gentler tilt, honouring O’Hara’s odd-lilt phrasing while threading a warm, slow sway underneath. Both choices make sense for a Toronto-rooted artist who clearly knows the local canon, and both show how Bria treats the idea of “country” as a mood rather than a genre box.

Salmena came up in the noise-rock outfit FRIGS and has spent time in Orville Peck’s orbit, and you can hear the discipline that comes from those worlds. The guitars from Jennings are all texture and intent, picking out lines that behave like backing vocals. The rhythm section keeps a streetlight pace, never dragging, never getting in the way. It feels like a late set at a friendly bar where the band knows you’re listening. That restraint is what gives these versions their weight. When the harmonies slide in, they do it softly, and the reverb is the kind that makes a room feel bigger rather than hazier.

Released in 2023 on Sub Pop, Vol. 2 arrived to a warm round of nods from the music press, and it’s easy to see why. Plenty of cover records slap a twang on a tune and call it a day. Bria does the opposite. These choices say something about lineage and feeling, and they’re sung with a focus that suggests the words matter. Even when the band leans into classic honky-tonk colours, they never chase pastiche. The pedal steel sighs, the organ flickers, and the whole thing sits in that sweet spot where heartbreak sounds inviting.

What makes it sing on vinyl is the air in the mix. Spin Cuntry Covers Vol. 2 vinyl and you get those small-room details: the breath at the end of a line, the soft scrape of strings, the gentle bloom of a snare when the brushes catch. If you’ve been trawling a Melbourne record store for something that bridges Lucinda’s poetry with the quiet noir of late-night indie, this will feel like it was filed just for you. I stumbled on my copy while digging through a bin marked “country-adjacent” next to a stack of Orville Peck 12-inches and a stray Gillian Welch reissue, and it hasn’t left the turntable since.

There’s also a nice sense of continuity with Vol. 1. Bria still favours songs that carry stories, and still builds arrangements that work like good lighting. But there’s more confidence now, more silence where silence helps, and a little more bite when the lyric calls for it. These are performances that trust the listener. You’re pulled closer rather than bowled over.

For anyone collecting Bria albums on vinyl, this sits comfortably alongside the first volume and the FRIGS catalogue, offering a slower, deeper tint of the same voice. If you’re keen to buy Bria records online, it’s an easy add to the cart, and it’s the kind of record that also turns up in thoughtful shops that take pride in their curation. In the growing stack of cover projects, Cuntry Covers Vol. 2 earns its spot by being specific. It knows exactly which parts of a song to keep, and exactly where to let the night in.

If you’re in Australia and hunting around for vinyl records Australia wide, keep an eye on local stockists because this one benefits from a clean pressing. However you find it, on a shop wall or in the new arrivals tab, it’s the sort of gem that reminds you why the format matters. Bria vinyl just feels right in the hands, and this set of songs feels right in the room.