'Forerunner to the goth rock genre is an undisputed masterpiece'
Closer is an album
whose beauty and complexity is difficult to do justice in words. It’s a
transcendent experience and will, for better or worse, have a momentous impact
on the listener. Each and every track carries with it magnificent power, an
unrivalled energy in terms of its lyrical content and musicianship. Whilst Joy
Division’s extraordinary debut album Unknown
Pleasures had a raw, spare and stark quality to it, it also bore a semblance
of constancy, with each track not too dramatically different to the one that
preceded it. Closer, whilst equally mysterious, intriguing and laden with gloomy
lyrics, is an album of jarring tonal
and auditory shifts. From the machine-like drum pattern and delicate vocals of
outstanding opener Atrocity Exhibition to the heavy, ear-splitting riffage and
risible vocal shouts of Colony; from the funereal, sepulchral lowness of the
glorious The Eternal to the stop-start dynamics of the increasingly desperate,
despairing Twenty Four Hours, Closer is
a marvellously challenging listen.
Whilst the casual listener not particularly well-versed in
Joy Division’s oeuvre might be initially perturbed or take a while warming to
the viscous layer of gloom that Closer
is coated in, the album should be persevered with, must be persevered with
even. Closer is dark and Joy Division
aficionados can all concur that the record contains the band’s darkest work.
However, what truly sets Joy Division apart and where the band’s inarguable
genius shines through at its greatest, is the way they can meld melodic, occasionally
light music with unnerving and often depressing lyrics, and make it work
beautifully. The track Isolation attests to this, as despite its words (which
serve as an insight into Curtis’ scarily insecure wellbeing at the time), the
track remains catchy and almost danceable. It also serves as somewhat of a
harbinger to the more synth-pop oriented music Joy Division’s members would
produce post Curtis’ death as New Order. The way the band can so beautifully
counterbalance the darkness with a radio-friendly musical vibe is evidenced
perhaps at its best in the immortal classic Love Will Tear Us Apart (which,
like Closer, was released after
Curtis’ death).
Whatever one’s taste, Closer is a must-listen. It’s an album brimming with sorrow and pain, and remains not only the quintessential post punk record, but a record that should be heard by all and sundry, irrespective of musical predisposition. While impressive modern acts such as Interpol and The Horrors have partially recaptured the sonic uniqueness of this marvellous band, Joy Division will forever remain the benchmark for profound, endlessly moving gothic rock.
10.0
Jacob Dunstan
The distinctive drum-beat and haunting synth make for a brilliant marriage with Curtis' eerie, hushed vocals in the atmospheric Heart and Soul:
