Toronto group Ducks Ltd are back with the second installment of their The Sincerest Form of Flattery covers series, taking on The Cure's classic 1985 single "In Between Days" as a collaboration with Jane Inc (aka Carlyn Bezic). They keep things fairly close to the original, while moving to slightly surfier territory and maybe even making the song a little more New Order-y than it already was.
"Robert Smith is a genius and the Cure are the best and I absolutely love this song," says Ducks Ltd's Tom McGreevy. "It's such a simple one but all of the pieces slot together so neatly. We listened to all the demos he made of it, and it's cool to hear how clearly the fundamental parts of it are realized on the very first one, even though he doesn't have any lyrics yet and is just wordlessly singing the melody (which I also do when we demo stuff!). We mostly tracked this one on a day off when we were on tour with Nation of Language, so the vocal was tracked in the front seat of a parked Mitsubishi Outlander in the middle of the night outside an Airbnb in Grand Junction, Colorado. It's also the first thing we've made that our bass player Katie plays on."
As to Jane Inc's involvement, "Carlyn Bezic (aka Jane Inc) has been a pal for maybe a decade and is one the best musicians in Toronto," Tom says. "I've seen her in so many bands and it's been so cool to watch the Jane Inc project come together, as it feels like she just keeps refining and perfecting a creative vision that was already clear in some of the first projects I saw her in. I've wanted to do something with her for forever, so I was super excited she said yes to this!"
Listen to the "In Between Days" cover, and watch the video for The Cure's original below.
Ducks LTD will be on tour with Disq in November, including a Brooklyn show at Baby's All Right on 11/21.
Jane Inc just released her terrific second album, Faster Than I Can Take.
The first in The Sincerest Form of Flattery series was a cover of The Jesus & Mary Chain's "Head On" made with Illuminati Hotties.