Covering a song can do any number of things for a band — and for boy-girl pop duos, it seems to have done a lot over the past year or so. Matt and Kim have recently been charming festival crowds and college kids simply by sprinkling a few synthy jams on classics like “Better Off Alone” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” into their setlists. Pomplamoose continue to be one of YouTube’s biggest success stories by way of their infectious spins on Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. And The Bird and The Bee initiated a series of cover albums, Interpreting the Masters, with a fine tribute to Hall & Oates earlier this year — already expanding their fanbase enough to include Hall & Oates themselves.
Now, with Crushes, veteran husband/wife team Mates of State have thrown their hats into the ring. But instead of showing the young’uns how it’s done, Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel — together as Mates since 1997, and as mates even longer — sound like they’ve all but run out of steam. Indeed, one of the things covering a song can do is help the performer unravel how it works from the inside, and a good songwriter can glean some valuable lessons and inspiration from the process. But with little exception, Crushes is one embarrassing misunderstanding after another, doing few favors for Mates, the original artist, or the listener.
In their own words, Gardner and Hammel’s intentions with this record were to play these songs as if they had written them. And in the case of half of these covers, that raises some interesting questions about how these two process their influences. Girls’ jangly “Laura” kicks things off, but here it’s misrepresented as a mystifying teen pop ballad stuck somewhere between the sensibilities of High School Musical and Kidz Bop. Likewise, Tom Waits’ dusky “Long Way Home” sounds like one of Liz Phair’s collaborations with The Matrix; Vashti Bunyan’s “17 Pink Sugar Elephants” becomes something more saccharine than a box of Peeps; and the proto-Hanson qualities of Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News” are brought ably to the fore. But Mates save the nadir for last, channeling the spirit of Owl City to thoroughly desecrate everything that once made Daniel Johnston’s finest moment so beautiful. Although Crushes has no shortage of supporting evidence, adding a breakbeat to “True Love Will Find You in the End” is one of the more concise ways to convey not understanding your record collection, good taste, or the concept of self-control.
That, however, is just Crushes’ bad half. Elsewhere, “Sleep the Clock Around” cranks up Belle and Sebastian’s keyboards, “Technicolor Girls” adds drums to and subtracts the outro pay-off from the Death Cab arrangement, etc. — but the list of creative liberties taken is a dull one, and none of them make for a superior or even worthwhile cover. The last minute of Mars Volta’s “Son et Lumiere” actually builds into a pretty lovely and unexpected swell of horns and choral interplay, but it’s over too soon — especially in the context of what little else the record has to offer. Whether Mates of State are killing their idols or boring their listeners, Crushes is about as masturbatory and pointless as cover albums get.
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