New Order founders and former Joy Division members Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris recently held a live stream tribute in honor of the late Ian Curtis, who fronted Joy Division prior to his suicide in 1980. During the tribute Mark Lanegan teamed up with Cold Cave for a cover of “Isolation,” which originally appeared on the Joy Division album Closer.

Lanegan’s deep voice blended well with Cold Cave’s gothic electronic style, to create a faithful yet unique rendition of “Isolation.” The track was one of Joy Division’s first forays into synth based music blended with their style of post-punk, which would come to influence their later development into New Order.

Other prominent artists such as elbow, LoneLady, The Lottery Winners and Kodaline also performed at the event, while others such as Brandon Flowers of The Killers, actress/musician Maxine Peake, Mark Reeder, Sumner and Morris held speaking engagements. The event took place yesterday on May 18 and raised money for the mental health charity Manchester Mind.

Cold Cave’s Wesley Eisold joined up with Lanegan last year during Psycho Vegas for a performance of “Playing Nero” from Lanegan’s 2019 album Somebody’s Knocking. The group released a single titled “Promised Land” during the beginning of 2019.

Lanegan released an album this year titled Straight Songs of Sorrow, which was based on his memoir Sing Backwards and Weep, also released this year. The album had guest appearances from Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers, Warren Ellis of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat