B-Side Guys

The Gromble’s cover of “Perfect” succeeds where many reimaginings fail—it honors the source material while completely transforming its emotional palette. The Southern California indie outfit has chosen wisely in selecting this understated track from Smashing Pumpkins’ 1998 album Adore—a period when Billy Corgan himself was pivoting from guitar walls toward electronic textures.

What makes this interpretation compelling is how it amplifies the song’s inherent melancholy. While the original balanced its wistfulness with Corgan’s distinctive vocal intensity, The Gromble strip away that urgency in favor of ethereal dreaminess. The production bathes the track in shimmering synths that create a hazy, nostalgic atmosphere perfectly suited to a song about faded connections and the ghosts of past relationships.

The arrangement follows a patient build, reaching its first emotional peak at the 49-second mark as promised, where the chorus emerges like a half-remembered dream. By the second verse at 1:37, the band has fully established their sonic world—one where regret and acceptance coexist in delicate balance. Their self-described “melodrama vibe” never tips into excess, instead finding beauty in restraint.

This lo-fi rock treatment transforms what was originally an electronic-tinged alt-rock song into something that fits comfortably alongside contemporary dream pop acts, proving that The Gromble understand both where this song came from and where it might still resonate today. The band’s stated connection to the material—that it “quietly stuck with us over the years”—reveals itself in the careful attention to emotional detail throughout.

For a song about imperfect connections and the impossibility of perfection itself, this cover finds its own kind of perfection in embracing vulnerability rather than hiding behind noise. The Gromble have created a version that stands independently while illuminating qualities in the original that might have been overlooked, accomplishing exactly what a thoughtful cover should.