Civil Wars Release New Unplugged EP on Itunes, cover Michael Jackson & Portishead

The Civil Wars may be in a total state of future ambiguity as they hint at new music, but they have released a new-ish EP of “Unplugged” material from a VH1 taping now on Itunes. The EP comes complete with videos in addition to 7 tracks that include their it’s-so-weird-and-atmospheric-it-totally-works cover of MJ’s “Billie Jean.” (I’m going to refrain from a tangent that attempts to wager the likelihood of the move of Unplugged from MTV to VH1 being a sign that those of us that came of age watching Nirvana and others break ground by toning it down are officially old and out of the target demo. Instead, I give you this: Why MTV doesn’t play music videos anymore).

And now, back to the Civil Wars… The EP also features a very worthy rendition of Portishead‘s “Sour Times” to pique your possibly waning interest. It’s not as thoroughly re-imagined as their take on “Billie Jean” but it’s nice to see Portishead repped a little and the old Buzz Bin staple revived/made perhaps a bit more haunting with those harmonies.

Here’s a listen to their take on the trip-hop classic:

You can snag the Unplugged session on Itunes for just $5.99. VH1 plans to re-air the show this week in honor of the release, so check their schedule or watch it online here.

Now, will people please stop writing about how miraculous it was that Joy Williams performed pregnant? Lucille Ball broke the taboo, folks; y’all can calm down now.