Trace Mountains, the folk-rock project of LVL UP’s Dave Benton, has shared a cover of Matthew Sweet’s “Sick Of Myself.”

“Sick Of Myself” originally appeared on Sweet’s 1995 album 100% Fun. His version is upbeat and real heavy on the guitars, but Trace Mountains’ rendition slows it down to a balladic pace and swaps in a nice piano instrumental. It sure makes lyrics like “In a world that’s ugly and a lie/ It’s hard to even want to try” feel even more disconcerting. But it sounds nice! Here’s what Benton said about it:

I began working on this recording a while ago now in 2021, with co-producer Jared Samuel in Hudson, NY. While the recording from that session never was completed, his piano-forward, downtempo arrangement informed the approach we took moving forward to show a side of the song at its most vulnerable and spare. A part of me at that time resonated deeply with Matthew Sweet’s plain lyrics about loneliness and longing beneath all the dope guitar solos in his recording, so it was important to me that we highlight that emotionality in our version. I’m really proud of what we made and I hope you enjoy listening to it.

Benton has also been busy preparing for those LVL UP reunion shows. Listen to his cover of “Sick Of Myself” below.