Listen to The Cure’s Robert Smith remix of CHVRCHES’ “How Not To Drown”
Smith says he wanted his version of the band’s song to “CONJURE UP AN IRRESISTIBLE MIDNIGHT SEA, WITH DARK MESMERIC CURRENTS.”
CHVRCHES will drop new album Screen Violence August 27. It's the Scottish trio's fourth album to date and so far we have heard the singles "He Said She Said" and "How Not To Drown." The latter features vocals from the one and only Robert Smith of The Cure. Today the band have shared a remix of the song courtesy of Smith that takes the song's theme of of staying conscious when submerged by water and pushes it into even deeper, darker territory.
Smith's take on "How Not To Drown" adds layers of atmoshphere to the mix with a spacey intro and a spectral piano line running into huge stadium drums. In their lyrics, Smith and CHVRCHES vocalist Lauren Mayberry both dig into what it means to disappear completely with Mayberry stating "I wasn't dead when they found me, watch as they pull me down" and Smith responding by "writing a chapter on what to do after they dig you up."
Speaking to The FADER about the remix via email, Smith sent over the following: "I HAVE LOVED CHVRCHES FROM THE FIRST TIME I HEARD THE MOTHER WE SHARE, AND WAS THRILLED WHEN THEY ASKED ME TO COLLABORATE WITH THEM ON ONE OF THEIR NEW SONGS. I LISTENED TO EARLY VERSIONS LAST YEAR, AND "HOW NOT TO DROWN" JUMPED OUT AND DRAGGED ME UNDER. I WANTED MY REMIX TO FOCUS ON SOME OF THE SUNKEN ELEMENTS IN THE BRILLIANT ALBUM MIX, TO CONJURE UP AN IRRESISTIBLE MIDNIGHT SEA, WITH DARK MESMERIC CURRENTS THAT GENTLY BUT INEXORABLY PULL YOU DOWN… “
Check out the remix below.