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Aimee Mann covers Leonard Cohen's "Avalanche" for new HBO docuseries 'I'll Be Gone in the Dark'

Aimee Mann at Landmark on Main Street
Photo by Greg Cristman

Aimee Mann has covered Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche” as the theme music for HBO’s new true crime docuseries I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Stereogum points out. Her version stays pretty close to Cohen’s — originally on 1971’s Songs of Love and Hate, written from the perspective of the Hunchback of Notre Dame — with dark, alluring strings, a skipping acoustic riff and just a little harp. The full version of the song hasn’t been released but you can hear it in the opening credits in the first episode of the series, which debuted Sunday night on HBO. The network has made that episode free to stream and you can watch it here.

As for the series itself, it is based on the book of the same name by true crime writer Michelle McNamara who was married to Patton Oswalt and died of an accidental overdose in 2016. The six part series details McNamara’s investigation the Golden State Killer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s. Two years after McNamara’s death, authorities arrested Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. and he pleaded guilty to the 13 murders of the Golden State Killer in June 2020. Police say McNamara’s research was instrumental to his arrest. You can watch the trailer for I’ll Be Gone in the Dark below.