The duo of Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet may be the perfect assimilation of vocal chops and instrumental savvy, as shown on a pair of recent albums titled Under The Covers (Shout! Factory), with volume one re-examining big hits from the ’60s and volume two tackling the ’70s. The track record for Hoffs and Sweet speaks for itself. Hoffs’ band, the Bangles, was the only member of the hallowed Paisley Underground scene to sell more than a handful of records, cracking the national top-30 no fewer than eight times from 1986-89. Sweet’s breakthrough album was 1991’s Girlfriend, which paved the way for later power-pop classics like Altered Beast and 100{e5d2c082e45b5ce38ac2ea5f0bdedb3901cc97dfa4ea5e625fd79a7c2dc9f191} Fun. The pair plans to take an acoustic version of their Under The Covers act on the road in September, but in the meantime is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our Q&A with them.
Susanna Hoffs: It is a sublime sound: sunny, bell-like, beautiful. Twelve-string guitars were used extensively by some of my favorite groups like the Byrds, the Beatles, the Seekers and the Hollies. Just think “Ticket To Ride,” “If I Needed Someone,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “I’ll Never Find Another You” and “Look Through Any Window.” I cherish my Rickenbacker 12-strings and also my 1965 Guild Starfire, which has a particularly magical bright and jangly sound.
