38. Matthew Melchionne | Miracle Drug - Songs Of Surrender

40 Songs re-recorded by us. Re-imagined by you. #U2SOS40

Songs Of Surrender. Out Now: http://u2.lnk.to/SOS

Matthew Melchionne is an animator and musician living in Philadelphia. He is most interested in pastiche, sampling and collage. He’s not particularly good at talking about himself.

When I first had the opportunity to work for U2, it occurred to me that there was a poignant synecdoche implicit in the project. To me, Retracking a catalogue and the song ‘Miracle Drug,’ where Bono pleads for a medicine that will save a life, are both really paradoxical artistic statements. To honor a creative legacy while moving forward with energy. To accept and imminent death while yearning for a live-saving therapy. In my own limited way, I wanted to make a graphic that would suggest the cycle of flourishing/cU2ancerous growth and decay/life anew. I also really like desert settings for videos.

Of course I gagged when I learned that my work would be with U2. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is in regular rotation at my DJ sets. I love how it builds on Nile Rogers disco guitar music but also anticipates Rave and Madchester. I think the earnest sentimentality of Bono’s lyrics and melodicism and The Edge’s novel approach to guitar playing unlocked a lot for me, as an adolescent!

Find out more about Matthew Melchionne:
https://www.instagram.com/soulpatch.hq/