Nation of Language share cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest"

The cover will be released as a limited-edition 7" on Sub Pop on 29 May, with only 1,000 copies available. Speaking about the song, vocalist Ian Richard Devaney explains: "Like so many young New Jersey residents, I grew up listening to Springsteen, but this song somehow slipped by me during that formative era. I was really only exposed to it within the last few years, and it's followed me around since then. I can remember finishing a particularly emotional show somewhere deep in last year's tour, and our sound engineer, Skinny, started playing it as our exit music. It caught me so hard that I stayed there, just offstage, and listened to the rest of the song blasting, mixed with the sounds of all of the people milling about the venue."

Speaking about the process, Devaney adds: “When we ultimately endeavored that we might try doing our own version of the song, we luckily had a Yamaha CS-80 at our disposal, the same synth model which featured pretty heavily across the Tunnel of Love sessions back in ’87. Knowing we were working with some of the same textures as the original made it a little less daunting to cover Bruce.”

Alongside the cover, the band have also shared news of a three-night residency at London’s Village Underground taking place between 18-20 August. This will be followed by a run of summer EU festival appearances and headline performances, as well as support slots with Deep Sea Diver and Death Cab For Cutie on their North American tours.