Minor Arth’s New Mashup Brings Bowie and the Cure together for “Where Are We Alone?”
Although I would describe myself as a casual Cure fan, the new album I’ve been listening to most over the past month is the band’s new album, Songs of a Lost World. In what might seem blasphemous to truly dedicated Cure fans, I actually like it more than anything I’ve previously heard from the band. To be clear, I like the Cure, but I particularly like this new album. How could it be even better? Well, what about a guest duet with Bowie?
Impossible, you say? Well, thanks to mashup artist Minor Arth, this video gives us what that might look, and more importantly sound like.
This blog went from being something I basically wrote for myself for years to having an actual audience in large part because another mashup artist, DoM, noticed something of his that I posted last year with commentary and reached out to me to let me know he appreciated the post. That gave me the idea of “interviewing” him via direct message, which led me to a far more interactive relationship with the artists I highlight in the blog. Minor Arth has collaborated with DoM, and in fact, if you’ve paid close attention to the blog, you have seen some of their joint work here in the past. This Cure/Bowie mashup video is new from Minor Arth, and it not only sounds fantastic, it looks incredible, too, like it was meant to be this way all along.
Minor Arth managed to accomplish something else, too, which is reunite Reeves Gabrels with Bowie. Reeves is now the Cure’s guitarist (you can see him playing in the video). He worked with Bowie for more than a decade, not only playing guitar but serving as Bowie’s band leader, co-writer (of about 70 songs!), and bandmate in Tin Machine. There was a time when I only knew of Reeves Gabrels from his work with Bowie, but as extensive as their partnership was, Reeves’ output beyond Bowie is prolific and diverse. Also, by coincidence, he lives pretty close to where I live, and from time to time he appears nearby in very small venues, sometimes with short notice. I’ve become familiar enough with his style of playing to find it as recognizable as a human voice, and I’d say it’s a definite feature of both the original Cure song used here, “Alone,” and the mashup version crafted by Minor Arth.
The idea of a Bowie/Robert Smith collaboration is not far-fetched. The two actually performed together in life, including a notable duet of one of Bowie’s most depressing songs, “Quicksand,” in 1997. “Quicksand” is a song I’ve been listening to and contemplating for decades, whereas “Alone” is still very new to me. But it seems to be about loss and change, two themes very familiar to Bowie in general, and certainly also the subject matter of “Where Are We Now?” So the mashup doesn’t just work musically, but thematically. Even the lyrics seem to fit together like puzzle pieces.
(Minor Arth pointed out to me that there’s a little Joy Division sprinkled in here, too, from their song, “Decades.” That is so seamless I didn’t notice it until Minor Arth pointed it out. Joy Division comes in with the refrain, “where have they been,” at about the four-and-a-half-minute mark and thereafter).
The other thing this video does for me is remind me of how good “Where Are We Now?” is in the first place. If you can think back to early 2013 when Bowie surprisingly, without warning, released it ahead of The Next Day on his birthday, that it existed at all came as a surprise, given Bowie’s ten-year hiatus from making music. In retrospect, the surprise element was a little bit of a distraction, and then the release of The Next Day as a whole further detracted from focus on this particular song. By 2016, focus on this song was subsumed by the release of Blackstar and then Bowie’s death. I mention all this because I actually think it is one of Bowie’s great songs, and while certainly not unknown or forgotten, I don’t think it has fully received its due. That in itself is not what I’m enjoying about this mashup, but it does serve as a kind of reminder.
What’s very new here is the video, with the audio mashup being older by about two weeks. I have been in communication with Minor Arth for some time and, to my surprise, he told me yesterday that this video was made because I asked for it! What I had suggested was that I would be happy to feature a new video of his, and here it is.
Minor Arth provided audio links to a couple of other versions, which you can listen to HERE and HERE.
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Minor Arth grew up in Paris immersed in music, thanks to his father’s eclectic taste in British and American rock and pop from the 1960s onward. Artists like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and David Bowie shaped his lifelong interest in music. Although Minor Arth had early memories of Bowie’s Let’s Dance and the iconic Band Aid 1985 performance (from seeing it on television), he only became familiar with much of Bowie’s earlier work later in life as he explored the artist’s extensive and varied discography. Fascinated by Bowie’s ability to adopt different voices and characters, Minor Arth was struck by how frequently Bowie’s name came up as an influence among the bands he admired.
For the past 15 years, Minor Arth has lived in California, where he began experimenting with mashup production as a hobby in 2016. His collaborations with other artists, including the mashup producer DoM, have played a significant role in his creative journey. The two initially connected online about four years ago, drawn together by their shared appreciation for many artists, including Bowie before finally meeting in person in France in 2023. Their partnership has resulted in videos that have been featured and celebrated by fans of their work.