Indie-folk maestro Bill Callahan has dropped a cover of the Billie Eilish single ‘Wish You Were Gay’ today (October 29).

Callahan’s cover gives the originally stripped back and sensual song a folky quality.  Enlisting the help of singer-songwriter Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Sean O’Hagan of avant-pop group The High Llamas, Callahan intersperses the track with 90s techno-pop stylings and drum machine beats.

Listen to his version below:

The surprise drop comes a month after the release of ‘Gold Record’, Callahan’s seventh studio album under his own name, in September. ‘Gold Record’ itself came barely a year after its predecessor, ‘Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest’.

• Read more: Bill Callahan: “I wanted to write about the entirety of human existence in one song”

In a four-star review, NME called ‘Gold Record’ “more of a scrapbook of sounds than a cohesive collection [but] sees him reach higher astral spheres than before”.

“This album is intentionally casual, at points even scrappy, but it’s testament to Callahan’s brilliance as a songwriter that he can use that scrappiness as the basis of something truly beautiful.”

Speaking to NME about his stylistic intentions for the album, Callahan had said, “These are songs that have a beginning, a middle and an end.

“Their narratives are complete.”