This week we bring you We Were Promised Jetpacks—still out touring off their latest release, In the Pit of the Stomach, the band recently stopped over at Coachella, no doubt winning over a few more fans on this side of the Atlantic.  What you may have seen there are pounding drums, electric guitars, and Adam screaming out his lyrics; this is a very different version of We Were Promised Jetpacks, and we’re happy to bring you the stripped-down version.  (Not that the full band isn’t great, of course).

We met up with Adam Thompson when the band was here in Boston towards the end of last year, and after listening to a raucous sound check were treated to something quite different.  Quietly sitting down before our cameras, Adam transformed the sound of WWPJ into three beautiful solo acoustic tracks.  Thompson brought the same intensity to the tracks, though, strumming the guitar strings so fast during a first take of Pear Tree that he lost his pick, laughing and muttering, “Balls…” as we prepped to film another take.

What you’ll see here is Thompson’s ability to take a yell and change it into a muted cry and whisper. It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning, off their first album, These Four Walls, Pear Tree and Picture of Health could easily be mistaken for another band’s material here.  We’re happy to bring you these different versions.  Hope you enjoy the videos!

First up, It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning:

Next, Picture of Health:

And finally, Pear Tree:

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