Jam Band adopts "White Lotus" theme for victory

"Renaissance", the musical title of the second season of HBO's "The White Lotus", writes by the Chilean American composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer has touched on something profound in the modern zeitgeist. It's become an EDM anthem, a social media hit, and most recently, the perfect cover for funk jam band Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. Greg Ormont, one of the band's two guitarists, loves the show and recently the theme song during a two-night tour at XL Live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as part of the venue's "Festival of Melting Lights." .

Not an obvious song to cover. “Renaissance” has no words and instead features a succession of high-pitched yodels that sound like a pack of monkeys. It's tense and evocative, uncomfortable, but somehow dancing. It's a fitting prelude to the lyrical drama that unfolded in Sicily this season, heightening the uncertainty of the story and its characters. Greg Ormont of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong spoke with Variety about the band's coverage.

"Renaissance" went viral and took over international EDM. Why do you think the song resonates so deeply with people?

The melody is really interesting, especially the way the vocal part is cut and chopped to sound almost Native American. I think we're so used to hearing a normal human voice and a human melody that when something different happens it catches the ear just like a big interval skip will catch the ear instead of a next melody the usual steps of a scale.

Were you surprised at the audience's reaction to your performance?

I immediately knew who the fans of "White Lotus" were, because I think that everyone who loves the series is now obsessed with this song. If I was in the crowd and a band started playing this song, I would freak out too. It was fun to see, oh, these people have HBO, you know? It was a great litmus test to see who subscribes where.

What do you like about the series?

It's almost hard to explain why I like it so much. It's such a unique and funny show. But ultimately I think it comes down to the characters being so rich, both literally and figuratively, and their evolving relationships and how that tension is built and then released.

Storytelling will take you down certain paths, and sometimes those paths aren't resolved and they don't not develop and they are almost like a diversion from the real scenario. I think everyone who watched the Season 2 finale was both satisfied and dissatisfied. Some storylines were blocked and others left open. What's going on with Greg (played by John Gries)? Does he get caught? Does he get in trouble for that? What happens to Portia (Haley Lu Richardson)? She seems to be getting out of it without a hitch? Why was Jack (Leo Woodall) in such a deep hole and why did he end up in the situation to begin with? I mean, there were so many: what happened with Daphne (Meghann Fahy) and Ethan (Will Sharpe) when they went to the beach? There were so many things left unsaid.

How did the song end up in your set list?

I played it for the band and it was an earworm for Jeremy [Schon , guitarist]…he went home and started watching the show. Then he dusted off a guitar pedal that he doesn't normally use on our daily shows called , and took it out so it could mirror that jerky melody. He learned the melody, showed us the chords, and we went shopping.

Normally, we'll put these ideas into practice and let them marinate for a bit. But it wasn't just an instant hit with the band, it was also very current. We figured we had to play right away since the season finale had just aired. We also did a quick little search online and saw no other coverage...