Closer
- Zone: Surface (level 1 of 5)
- Genre: Rock, Post-punk
- Mood: bleak, funereal, stark
- Sound: sparse drums, baritone vocals, cold synthesizers, short songs
Closer is the second and last Joy Division album, and it takes the stripped-down punk of their debut into colder, more atmospheric territory. Martin Hannett produced it at Britannia Row Studios in London in March 1980, running a Synare drum synth through a fuzz pedal on “Atrocity Exhibition” and heavily processing the guitars, which softens their edge and leaves a lot of empty space. Synthesisers and electronic drums are more prominent than before, Ian Curtis plays melodica on “Decades”, and the songs came largely out of jam sessions in the band’s practice room. The lyrics were influenced by J. G. Ballard’s fiction, and the title of the opening track comes from his novel The Atrocity Exhibition. It became a defining record of post-punk and gothic rock, and the surviving members went on to form New Order.
Track list
- Atrocity Exhibition
- Isolation
- Passover
- Colony
- A Means to an End
- Heart and Soul
- Twenty Four Hours
- The Eternal
- Decades