I went digging into the Terrible Records Bandcamp page the other day as part of writing my post on Alaska Reid. It brought up a single by the eclectic artist Petey called “Crash Into Me.” Hmm, I thought. That can’t be a cover of the Dave Matthews Band song, can it?

Of course it was, and I’m so glad I clicked on it. I feel like a lot of covers are acoustic; there are so many coffee shop playlists out there that testify to that. Petey’s take on “Crash” is electronic. I really enjoy that uniqueness. It starts out with a little bouncy beat that fades out into a more solid groove.

Petey alters his voice into something much softer than what you hear on his popular single “Pitch a Fit!” It sounds flat and robotic, but not in a bad way at all; it’s cushioned by the gentle buoyancy of the song. That’s why when you hear him sing “in a boy’s dream,” it really does sound like a dream. It creates a newfound tenderness in the lines about kissing.

He has a twang in his voice that comes out really strongly in “Pitch a Fit!” – “so ya wanna pitch a fit, ya-ha?” – and works impressively well in his cover of “Crash,” too. It glides so smoothly over the lines “sweet you rock and sweet you roll” and sticks the landing. He doesn’t include the bridge with “I’m the king of the castle,” etc., but I didn’t mind that at all. Some covers drag things out too long; Petey’s is short and sweet.

One of the best things about covers is that it makes you see the original song in a completely different way. The Dave Matthews version always gave me a slightly Nice Guy vibe. Maybe it’s the lyrics about watching the subject of the song through the window and wondering if he’s gone overboard. Petey left those lyrics out, too in this cover, and in so doing, you just really feel his helplessness, yet eagerness. I’ll still listen to the original, but in all honesty, Petey’s daydreamy take is more of a win for me.

Give it a listen here: