J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. has shared a cover of The Cure’s “Breathe,” taken from the band’s 2004 career-spanning B-sides collection Join the Dots. Landing just under a year since his last solo album (and nearly 40 years since his band’s iconic cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”), J keeps things simple with nothing more than acoustic guitar and vocals on his version of the tune. He honors the straightforward instrumentation of the original, but the focus on lyrics helps emphasize the poetry in Robert Smith’s words.
Mascis is also getting ready for a four-date solo tour, beginning with a sold-out show on February 8 at the Sinclair in Cambridge. From there, he has a February 12 gig at Underground Arts in Philadelphia and a February 13 performance at Racket in NYC. He’ll wrap things up on February 20 at Foro Indierocks in Mexico City.
Check out his “Breathe” cover below, and find tickets for those tour dates listed here.