She's Lost Control

Copyright 2020 Tristan Schmid

Copyright 2020 Tristan Schmid

This is a new cover of the classic Joy Division song, “She’s Lost Control”. Download the MP3 here or listen above.

“She’s Lost Control” is also the first song I’ve sung on without vocoder, so you can actually hear my voice. Take that for what it’s worth.

My favorite radio station (and the only one I listen to)—KEXP—honored the 40th anniversary of Ian Curtis's passing last month.

The day inspired me to cover a song start to finish for the first time: Over the past 20+ years, I produced a Nine Inch Nails remix, used plenty of samples in almost all of my songs, and made an instrumental of Prince's "I Would Die 4 U". But I've never completely covered someone else's song.

Wading back in to making music over the past few months, I was frustrated at the abilities and knowledge I felt I'd lost yet again: I have a habit of being creative with my free time in short bursts, then getting busy with work and stopping for long periods of time.

I immediately felt overwhelmed with the infinite technical possibilities presented by what is supposed to be user-friendly software and hardware.

And though this song is about a woman whom Ian Curtis knew who died of an epileptic seizure (Curtis also suffered from epilepsy), I guess being reminded of the Joy Division story and Ian Curtis's battle with depression particularly resonated with me, especially given the sense of isolation—and so many other challenging emotions—that so many of us have felt this year with the pandemic and economic and social upheaval.

Anyway, it feels good to be doing this again, and I plan to keep it up. I need creative outlets outside of work, and even if what I make doesn't interest hardly anyone—there’s an incredible array of creative choices out there—it makes my life more balanced.

I hope you enjoy.