Robert Smith – “There’s A Girl In The Corner” (The Twilight Sad Cover)

Robert Smith – “There’s A Girl In The Corner” (The Twilight Sad Cover)

If you’re listening for it, it’s easy to hear the influence of the Cure in everything that gloomy Scottish postpunkers the Twilight Sad have ever done. And it turns out that the admiration is mutual. The Twilight Sad are about to release “It Never Was The Same,” a track from their 2014 album Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave, as a double A-side single. And the other song on the single is Smith covering “There’s A Girl In The Corner,” another song from the same album. Smith’s version taps into the song’s drama, heightens it, and turns it into a teenage-desperation anthem worthy of the Cure. Listen to his version and read some words about it from the Twilight Sad guitarist Andy MacFarlane.

MacFarlane tells The Guardian that he learned from Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite that Smith is a fan of the Twilight Sad:

For as far back as I can remember, we have all been huge fans of the Cure, so reading that was obviously mind blowing – although I was always slightly sceptical, thinking it was maybe Barry Burns from Mogwai trying to pull some elaborate joke on us…

After we recorded Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave I sent it to Robert to have a listen, and he said it was “BEAUTIFUL.” We wanted to do something special for the “It Never Was the Same” single, as it was going to be the last release from the album. I knew it was a pretty far-fetched idea, but thought I might as well chance my arm and ask Robert if he’d be up for covering one of our songs to feature as a double A-side. I couldn’t believe it when he replied, saying he’d like to cover “There’s a Girl in the Corner.”

He sent it over when we were playing San Francisco in March, and we listened to it over and over in the van, driving out after the gig. Hearing someone that we’ve all looked up to for so long sing and play one of our songs is definitely one of the most surreal moments we’ve ever had.

The single is out 6/14 on FatCat.

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