Disintegration by Matt Jasper

I have been covering the Cure's lovesong on acoustic guitar for approximately 20 years, so I decided to learn, cover and record the rest of the entire album of the Cure's Disintegration this Quarantine February 2021 (and also include lovesong of course). There's hope, trauma, loss, and so much damn space to contemplate on this record.

I first discovered the Cure from a mix tape made for me in high school from my original goth friend Kristin, alongside a gift of Depeche Mode's Greatest Hits, yes both on cassette. My love for the Cure was solidified shortly after by watching the Crow and taping the soundtrack off of the soundtrack CD I got from the library. A few years later I saw Tom Slocum (of the band Edith Keeler) cover lovesong at a concert I helped put on in college and quickly snagged the chords for my mental rolodex of covers beginning in 2002 or so.

Giving this album a repeated deep listen this winter to learn it, has made me fall in love with it even further. Every song is a Mood (with a capital M) and Robert Smith doesn't necessarily pause in between verses or write choruses on this record. I debated covering only the singing parts and making this a 25 minute cover record, but I wanted to stretch it out and see if I can capture the negative space on the original, which was a challenge. It's a quiet, wintry mood that embraces the darkness that surrounds Seattle in February, with a pandemic creeping over all of our in between days, as we all hope and wait for a Cure (get vaccinated when you can folks!)

If you're a fan of acoustic, banjo, keys, synth, (and one murdery sounding toy voice changer megaphone making a cameo as the "Spiderman") you'll dig this vibe. If the Magnetic Fields could put together 69 love songs, think of this version of Disintegration as the 13 lovesongs that probably inspired the Magnetic Fields to feel that original gothic love.

I present the Cure's Disintegration, aka "Gothic Schlock", in the Matt Jasper schlock monthly cover song series.

Matt Jasper plays guitar, bass guitar, banjo, ukulele, keyboards, and sings. He has written hundreds of songs, recording 5 albums between 2000-2010 and is putting together an album a month in 2021. He has performed extensively throughout Seattle, New York City, New Jersey and Long Island, with experience performing at regional tours throughout the Northeast and West Coast of the US.

mattjasper.com