Chrysta Bell sings The Cure

[Ulrich]

https://chrystabell.com/strange-as-angels-marc-collin-of-nouvelle-vague-presents-chrystabell-sings-the-cure/

Post-Punk, New Wave, Goth – for over four decades The Cure created alternative music so
powerful that it redefined the mainstream. They didn't just master genres, they transcended
them. Throughout these varied styles the group maintained an aesthetic continuity, creating a
world so vast and mysterious that there's room for other artists to explore it.

And explore it he does on Strange as Angels, Marc Collin's new collection of reinvented Cure songs, sung by the ethereal Chrystabell. Produced, arranged and conceived by Nouvelle Vague co-founder Marc Collin, he has again woven repertoire, performance, and his uniquely forged arranging aesthetic into something authentically new.

This is the first record Collin has devoted to one band and one vocalist. "For me it was like a vision," said Collin, "I imagined Chrystabell alone on stage, singing these songs." With her history of collaborations with David Lynch, Chrystabell adds a cinematic depth to her performance. Like Lynch, who refuses to explain away the mysteries in his work, her voice conjures a sense of surreal ambiguity, both organic and otherworldly, all at the same time.

Technically, Chrystabell chose to learn every nuance of Robert Smith's phrasing first, before re-interpreting. The result is a pure devotion to melody, which she subtly transforms into something very much her own. For a backdrop, Collin envisioned the arrangements as a bridge between theworlds of Lynch and The Cure, his heroes from the 80's.

Read more at the link above.

Listen/buy:
https://chrystabellmusic.bandcamp.com/album/strange-as-angels

Thanks to Sacha8 for pointing out this new (2024) cover album!

[Sacha8]

Glad I mentioned this! I think she's very respectful of the songs, and she even manages to heighten the pathos and creepy darkness of the originals. My favourite tracks are Dressing up and Charlotte Sometimes. BTW, she also made records with David Lynch and starred in the latest incarnation of the Twin Peaks saga (though I still have to watch it...)

[Ulrich]

Well I haven't listened to all of them yet (I might get the cd one day soonish), but I really enjoyed her take on "Three Imaginary Boys"! 

Many years ago (2012?) she played a small jazz club in Stuttgart, but I did not know much about her back then. Now of course I wish I'd gone to this concert!
I heard she was a "muse" for David Lynch and he worked on her first album (?) and later he got her to act in the new Twin Peaks (The Return, 2017), I saw her in this of course.