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James Blake Covers 'The Sound of Silence'

James Blake returned to BBC Radio 1 Residency Thursday night, this time with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. Vernon, who is rumored to appear on Blake's forthcoming LP Radio Silence, discussed bringing Blake and the 1-800-Dinosaur record label crew to his Eaux Claires music festival, which takes place in his Wisconsin hometown. He also did a pretty convincing Bob Dylan impression.

To close the show, Blake performed a haunting cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence." The cover remains true to the melancholic spirit of the original. Blake dedicated it to a friend of who passed away last New Year's Eve.

"One New Years Eve I had a friend of mine sadly pass away, and previous to that the things that he'd been saying to me sounded like an attempt to reach out to people. And I thought that after that happened, this seemed to be the only song that could represent how I felt at the time."

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Corrected: October 11, 2015 at 10:00 PM MDT
A previous version of this story said the new version of "The Sound of Silence" was performed by James Blake and Justin Vernon. Vernon did not perform on the song.
Kate Drozynski