Fruit Bats - Siamese Dream (2021) Hi-Res

Fruit Bats' Eric D. Johnson has announced plans to release a cover album of Smashing Pumpkins' seminal 1993 effort Siamese Dream.

Having recorded all instruments on the album himself, Johnson will pay tribute to one of his favourite bands from his youth through all of the album's original 13 tracks. In 1993, I was the prime age to be swept up in alternative radio. But truth be told, while I loved Nirvana and Jane's Addiction, in my heart, I was still secretly wearing a hole in my cassette copy of Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits (1974–78).

Somehow, Smashing Pumpkins spoke to all sides of me — angsty on the surface but really filled with a kind of Midwest mysticism that spoke directly to my 17-year-old-kid-from-Illinois brain. It's also the first tape I ever listened to while driving a long distance alone. I'm pretty sure my version of this album is based on subconscious memories of that drive. This version is all about hazy memories for me, and how [Billy] Corgan's brilliant pop hooks can travel through time and exist in any possible instrumental configuration.