Essence

Although they share no personnel with the Cure and operate as a fully independent act, the Dutch ensemble the Essence produces a sound that closely mirrors that group. This resemblance routinely leads listeners to mistake their tracks for Cure recordings when they air on radio or in clubs. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Hans Diener handles voice, guitar, synthesizer, and piano, delivering a timbre nearly identical to Robert Smith’s, while numbers such as “The Cat” and “A Mirage” replicate the Cure’s dense, swirling guitar textures with remarkable fidelity. Diener assembled the Essence in 1984 alongside bassist Jeroen ‘Jerry’ Geertsma and drummer Olaf Willemsen; the trio issued its first album, Purity, the following year. The 1987 single “A Mirage” reached the Spanish Top Ten, prompting a European tour. Although the band never achieved the Cure’s level of recognition in the United States, releases including A Monument of Trust and Ecstasy earned them dedicated followers, particularly within goth-rock circles. In 1994 Cherry Red Records assembled the group’s best-known material on the anthology Dancing in the Rain -- The Best of the Essence. A 1995 cover of “A Mirage” by the Spanish act Esquema again topped charts in Spain. Despite being primarily associated with the 1980s, the Essence remained active through the next decade, issuing Nothing Lasts Forever in 1991 and Glow in 1995.