Matt Bauer premieres his take on Prince's “Under the Cherry Moon” originally found on the album Parade and the title of the Revolution frontman's cinematic follow up to Purple Rain. And while the film from which this cover takes it's name has not enjoyed the same notoriety as Rain, Mr. Bauer here dons his best ruffled shirt and inflects more emotion along the way with a funeral march progression and solemn air to heighten the stakes.
Alisa Rose assists in the dramatic and romantic cover with violin accompaniment while Matt handles drums, guitar plunks, flutes, and a breathless vocal delivery of feelings gathered and locked by a dam ready to break. “Maybe I'll fly away into some special sky, if I don't find my destiny soon, I'll die in your arms under the cherrry moon.” Bauer keeps the intensity somewhere between immense devotion confessional and emotional collapse as the vocal immediacy and passion grows. “I want to live life to the ultimate high, maybe I'll die young, like heroes die, maybe I'll kiss you in some wild special way, if nobody kills me or thrills me soon…” At this point the list of exhaustive possibilities still point to the woeful “die in your arms” alternative option as Matt Bauer turns one of Prince's own period piece's into a genuine traditional funeral ballad.
Matt Bauer's EP No Shape Can Hold Me comes out October 23 from Crossbill Records.
