Joy Division – ‘Closer’
On May 18th, 1980, the music world mourned the tragic loss of Ian Curtis. The lead singer for Joy Division had taken his own life on the eve of the band’s North American tour, with Iggy Pop’s The Idiot playing on his stereo. Two months later, the band posthumously released their second studio album, Closer.
The album sees Joy Division develop their sound. The opening track, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’, sees the group take on more experimental influences, the six-minute song rising into a chaotic inferno of sound and distortion towards its conclusion. Although Joy Division were always an experimental group, pushing the frontiers of post-punk in such a way that other artists of the time were unable to, on Closer, it feels much more deliberate.
The stand-out track on the record, ‘Isolation’, signifies one of the band’s most upbeat, danceable tracks. The clear synth-pop influences on the song begin a clear lineage that can be traced to later work with New Order. Despite its distinctly new wave atmosphere, though, the lyrics of ‘Isolation’ are Ian Curtis at his bleakest. The third verse of the track, ending in “I’m ashamed of the things I’ve been put through, I’m ashamed of the person I am”, takes on a much darker tone within the posthumous context the album was released in. The poetic darkness of Curtis’ lyricism that was prevalent throughout Unknown Pleasures is built upon here, with Closer containing some of the songwriter’s most poignant literature.
As the album progresses, the atmosphere becomes darker, and Curtis’ lyrics continue to feel more and more like a desperate cry for help. The tracks ‘Twenty Four Hours’ and ‘The Eternal’ are potentially the best examples of this hopelessness, which is omnipresent throughout the record. Despite its inability to escape the tragic event which preceded its release, Closer remains a seminal album of the post-punk period, featuring some of the greatest songwriting of any work from that time.
In addition to the brilliance of the music itself, Closer is an absolute masterclass by producer Martin Hannett. The signature and much beloved Joy Division sound simply would not exist without his input, and his production work on this release is second to none. Although he manages to retain the essence of the punk sound that the band originally had, Hannett is effectively able to create a sound like nothing else on this album. The production contributes to a strong sense of cohesion across the album. Closer feels like a journey through sound, and although he had incredibly skilled musicians to work with, Hannett deserves a lot of credit for that feeling on the album.
In many ways, Closer acts as an unfulfilled promise of what was to come. The Joy Division sound had developed so much between Unknown Pleasures and Closer, becoming more skilful, confident and experimental. If that process was able to continue into the 1980s without Ian’s untimely death, who knows what musical brilliance might have ensued? On the other hand, perhaps Closer acts as a fitting conclusion to the work of the band. This record seems to be the apex of everything the band had been trying to achieve up to that point.
Peter Saville’s cover art for the record, featuring the tomb of the Appiani family, acts as a perfect summation for Closer. Whilst dark and mysterious in tone, there is an undeniable and timeless beauty to it, too. More developed and mature than Unknown Pleasures, the album has a unique voice that is not matched by any other work from the post-punk period. Each play-through reveals more secrets and nuances to be found within its complex layers, securing its enduring success for years to come.
