UK acoustic guitar whizz Mike Dawes has published the official video for his cover of Sleep Token’s Euclid.
On Wednesday (April 30), the Guildford fingerstyle player released a studio recording of his rendition, live versions of which went viral on TikTok and Instagram last year. Watch the clip below.
With the new video, Dawes has issued a statement about his love for Sleep Token and how he rearranged Euclid for one acoustic guitar.
“I’ve been a fan of Sleep Token for quite a while since my ex-college housemate produced some of their early work,” he explains. “They have such a unique sound with stunning melodies and arrangements that translate perfectly to acoustic guitar.
“After I opened for Periphery in the US, I had the opportunity to jump up at the UK’s Radar festival last year and wanted to take on Euclid just for that show, as a nod to Sleep Token who headlined that same festival the previous year. The live response blew me away. The melodies work so well in this CGDGAD tuning. I’ve absolutely fallen in love with this arrangement and hope it strikes a chord with others as well.”
Dawes is known for his reimaginings of famed rock, pop and metal tracks as mind-boggling feats of finger athleticism, and he regularly plays in Europe and America. People in the US will be able to see him this summer, as he treks across the country from July to August. See dates and get tickets via Dawes’ website.
Euclid is the final song on Sleep Token’s 2023 album, Take Me Back To Eden. It ends with a motif introduced at the start of The Night Does Not Belong To God – the first song on their debut album, 2019’s Sundowning – intended to mark the end of one ‘era’ of the band and the start of the next.
Sleep Token’s current ‘era’ kicked off last year, when the masked band signed to major label RCA. They’ll release their first album through their new home, Even In Arcadia, on Friday, May 9. The singles Emergence, Caramel and Damocles are streaming.
The band will play the European festival circuit, including a headline slot at Download festival in the UK on June 14, this summer. They’ll then play arenas in the United States in the autumn. Dates on the headline run sold out within hours of going on sale in March.
