Konrad Kinard Finds a New Pulse Inside “I Put A Spell On You”
A familiar song walks into the room, but something feels different. The rhythm refuses to settle, the silence seems to carry its own meaning, and the voice sounds as though it knows a secret the listener has not been told yet. That is the atmosphere Konrad Kinard creates with his striking reworking of “I Put A Spell On You.”
Released through Incinerate Media on September 18, 2026, Kinard’s interpretation takes one of music’s most enduring compositions and pulls it away from expected territory. Rather than leaning on the theatrical familiarity that often surrounds Jay Hawkins’ classic, Kinard reshapes the piece through an unusual seven beat structure, giving the song a nervous, unpredictable movement that constantly keeps the ear alert.
The result is dark, intimate and deliberately unsettling. Kinard handles vocals, electronics, piano, gamelan and arrangement, while Benji Arnold’s trombone and Teruki Chan’s percussion add further depth to the sparse but highly expressive framework. The production leaves considerable room around each sound, allowing pauses and restraint to become part of the performance rather than simply spaces between musical phrases. There is also an intriguing history behind the recording. The core tracks and vocals originated during 2020, with the project eventually completed alongside Arnold and Chan. What began with a challenge to break away from the song’s conventional rhythmic pattern developed into something much more personal.
Kinard’s approach brings together influences associated with Nina Simone, Jay Hawkins, Scott Walker and the experimental intensity of Einstürzende Neubauten, yet the finished recording remains distinctly his own. Kinard’s background helps explain that instinct for crossing boundaries. His career has moved through composition, performance, sound installation and dance, with work presented internationally across influential arts spaces. Here, those instincts converge in a recording that values tension, space and atmosphere.
“I Put A Spell On You” is not an attempt to make an old song sound new for the sake of novelty. It feels more like Kinard has opened it up, changed the architecture and allowed the shadows inside the original to become louder. The result is an adventurous cover with its own identity, and one that rewards listeners willing to lean into its strange, seductive rhythm.
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