The Essence

The Dutch group the Essence are not the Cure in disguise, nor are there Cure members in their lineup; they just sound remarkably like them. The Essence's immediately obvious similarities with the Cure usually cause confusion whenever one of their songs is played on the radio or in a club. Frontman Hans Diener (voice, guitar, synthesizer, piano) is Robert Smith's vocal twin, and tracks like "The Cat" and "A Mirage" duplicate the Cure's layers of dark, swirly guitars with stunning accuracy. Diener formed the Essence in 1984 with Jeroen 'Jerry' Geertsma (bass) and Olaf Willemsen ...