For the seventh time, Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin have released a digital split single that finds them swapping songs with another band or artist. If this just involved straight copies of the original songs (like you might hear at a live show), this series would have gotten stale by installment 2. But somehow Moss has turned the "Let's both cover one of each other's songs!" concept into a proper art form. I always look forward to these splits, and I'm always pleased by what I hear. Part of that is the musical diversity of the bands and artists Moss collaborates with. But an even bigger part of it is the approach.
In this latest installment, Moss teams up with Toronto's The James Clark Institute. Moss notes that The James Clark Institute's cover of "A Donkey" (from Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin's album Now with More Rockets) is very, very different from the original. But he points out that's an entirely good thing. "That's what keeps me interested in doing this series of split singles, " he says. "The one rule is that no one does a note-for-note cover. But beyond that, there are no limits on how one goes about reinterpreting the other's song." You can really hear that no-limits philosophy coming to life on TJCI's version of "A Donkey." While the original is all fire, fury, and snarl, Clark reimagines it in his signature style of modern and slightly quirky guitar pop. It's fascinating to hear two very distinctive vocalists with extremely different styles put their stamps on the same song. Here the remake proves to be as powerful as the original but in an entirely different way. If you didn't know better, you'd think Clark wrote the song, part of which is because he made many changes to the lyrics. It would not sound out of place on any of his records.
On their half of the split, Moss and Skin-Tight Skin cover "Bettie Page Rides A Donkey" from Clark's album Sideshow Unattraction. That's right: both songs on this release mention donkeys, which makes for a very cool connection. Moss, backed by Glenn Kowalski (from 7 Door Sedan) on lead guitar, Tom McNally on bass, and Steve Naff on drums, transforms Clark's stripped-down, melody-driven original into a deliberately paced and somewhat other-worldly glam-punk rocker. The significantly altered arrangement and Moss's cool, understated vocal delivery completely change the feel of the song. Moss and his band manage to honor the genius of Clark's original, but they don't hesitate to make it their own. This is what doing cover songs is all about!
Out of all the split singles Moss has done since he launched this project in 2024, this particular one shows the highest degree of creative reinterpretation yet. If you appreciate someone else's song enough to want to record it yourself, you ought to appreciate it enough to want to make it your own. Both of these tracks here sound like almost completely new songs, and I love it! If you're a fan of Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, be on the lookout for another split (with TA-80) in September and a Moss solo single in October!
https://skin-tight-rock.bandcamp.com/album/split-single-bettie-page-rides-a-donkey-a-donkey
https://www.facebook.com/RobMossAndSkinTightSkin/
https://www.instagram.com/rob_moss_and_skin_tight_skin/
https://www.clarkinstitute.com/
https://thejamesclarkinstitute.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jamesclarkinstitute/
https://www.facebook.com/thejci/
No comments:
Post a Comment