</p> <p>I sincerely doubt the creators of YouTube originally intended it to be inundated by videos like the one at the top of this post. But the reality is that funny(?) keyboard cats, crotch shots and awkward singers rule this medium, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/brycemccormick?feature=watch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryce McCormick</a> is a solid example of the kind of material that racks up hits. In his surprisingly well-equipped home studio, he makes beguilingly well-produced covers of popular songs that he smothers in cliche synths and a laughable white boy-soul croon. In short, it’s hilarious. He’s covered <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue1RsZPh2d8&list=UU7sczi4VJWl0hLvU3UB9Dsw&index=3&feature=plcp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Josh Groban</a>, Prince and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k5R114MdxQ&list=UU7sczi4VJWl0hLvU3UB9Dsw&index=9&feature=plcp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Jackson Five</a>. He also has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERPe2LK11fs&feature=relmfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one amazingly awful take on Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind.”</a></p> <p>But it all started with a cover of <a href="http://megafaun.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Megafaun</a>‘s beautiful ballad <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWJPR_YBxK8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“The Longest Day”</a>. The band’s bluegrass-inflected rumination on death and undying hope gets the soft soul treatment here, simplistic synths undercutting McCormick’s polish. There’s no telling if McCormick knows of the Megafaun boys’ involvement with Gayngs, an outfit that does what he’s attempting with more skill and sometimes equal hilarity. For now, just enjoy a good chuckle and bask in the fact that the Triangle folkies have hit the YouTube cover circuit.</p>
