Avant folk band Truthpaste cover Stephen Sondheim in new studio session

Truthpaste, a five-piece avant folk band, have recorded a version of Stephen Sondheim's "Losing My Mind," written for the character of former showgirl Sally Durant Plummer in the 1971 musical Follies, for a studio session with The Line of Best Fit, published August 13. Guitarist Theo Murchie brought the song to the band after seeing Follies as a schoolboy, telling Best Fit "he slept through the whole thing except for this song." He later wrote a guitar part for it and brought it to lead vocalist and saxophonist Esme Lark.

"I loved it as soon as I heard it, especially the version that Sondheim sings himself," Lark says. She called the lyrics heartbreaking in the stripped-back arrangement Murchie imagined, adding that she had pictured performing it with him for years before it finally happened.

The song is also known through the Pet Shop Boys-produced version sung by Liza Minnelli in 1989, which the duo later released with a Neil Tennant vocal and performed on their 2022 tour. Truthpaste, formed in Manchester in 2022, released their debut EP I Don't Know Either in the spring and play a headline show at Moth Club in London on December 8, followed by White Hotel in Manchester the next day.

The session was recorded at Crouch End Studios, which has hosted sessions for NPR, The Late Show and Amazon and is partnered with Best Fit for an ongoing series that has also featured Crack Cloud, Laufey, Lambrini Girls and Hot Wax.

Truthpaste's take on the standard sits within country, the genre home for folk acts on MusicSuey, and in the release calendar.