Kevin Recommends: “Not In Love” by Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith
How do you deal when you’ve invested years of your life with someone and it no longer works out?
Chances are you go through a process similar to the one Mark Holmes of Platinum Blonde was thinking about when he wrote this song.
You’re trying to remind yourself that it’s done, it’s over, you’re not in love anymore — but it’s not easy to just turn your back on something that you spent so much of your life on. The idea of finding something new, no matter how beneficial, is terrifying. It’s easy to stick to the familiar, no matter how destructive. It’s cold outside, after all, and it’s hot inside — isn’t that enough?
But you can’t even be friends anymore, because you’ve loved too deeply and been burned by that heat too badly. It’s done. All you can do is remind yourself that it’s done, you’re not in love, over and over until someday the pain gets numbed and you can move on.
Now me, I find that, while the lyrics of this track truly are those of pure confusion and frustration, the original version of “Not In Love” doesn’t get it right. There’s something missing there. It’s fine and all, but it’s not quite what Crystal Castles managed when they got the Feelings Master Robert Smith on-board to cover this song. Ain’t nobody in the game can pine and anguish over the death of a relationship like him.
Have a listen of this song and feel some feelings.