ESSENTIAL ALBUM
Artist: Joy Division
Album: Closer
Label: WM UK
Link: https://www.joydivisionofficial.com/
Style: Pop/Rock, Punk
Released just a few months after the death of charismatic singer Ian Curtis, Closer, Joy Division’s second studio album, lays the foundations for the sound of both nascent new wave and gothic rock.
Joy Division is the archetypal band whose career seems to have been stricken by the weight of a curse, but which despite, or partly thanks to, the relentlessness of fate, managed to become a cult and strongly influence music. Influenced themselves by the performances of the Sex Pitols, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Terry Mason decided to form a band, recruiting Ian Curtis through a classified ad. They subsequently changed drummers and names several times, before finally opting for Joy Division in 1976. The name, derived from a German term for the party that organized the sexual exploitation of female inmates in concentration camps, combined with the iconography of their first EP, led to suspicions of Nazi sympathies, which were always denied by the band members. Although he was the last member to join the band, Ian Curtis became a pillar of the band, with his unhappy lyrics, his sepulchral interpretation and his involvement on stage, where he lived every rhythm and every word. Suffering from epilepsy, he would sometimes have seizures on stage, and faced with his invasive psychic pain, as well as his difficulty in managing his notoriety, he took his own life when he was only 23, just a few months before the release of Closer. In forty-three songs and one hundred and twenty concerts, Joy Division succeeded in creating a legend and strongly influencing the music of the time, some facets of which can be perceived in the film Control, adapted from the book by Deborah Curtis, Ian’s wife.
Marked by punk, their style is really forged when they slow down the tempo, thus sticking to Ian Curtis’ particular phrasing. Another peculiarity is that Peter Hook’s bass carries the melodies, while guitarist Bernard Sumner opts for a more rhythmic style, while the drummer seems to follow his acolytes. Along with other bands from the same period, they were instrumental in the transition from punk to new wave. They are also considered to have had a strong influence on the gothic movement through the dark ambience of their music. What’s more, viewed in hindsight from the angle of their singer’s suicide, the lyrics take on the weight of a premonitory dimension in the expression of his existential suffering. Their influences include German rock from the same period, as well as older American bands such as The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and The Doors, and contemporary artists such as Siouxsie And The Banshees, who inspired their unusual use of guitar and bass.
Young producer Martin Hannett is no stranger to shaping the band’s distinctive sound. His meticulous attention to detail introduces delays and echoes, particularly on the drums. The ambience is cold, heavy and tense, with a surgical edge, but a dark, sticky post-apocalyptic surgery. For Joy Division, there’s a future after punk, but that doesn’t mean there’s hope. Nevertheless, beyond the legend, Joy Division’s two studio albums are considered indispensable. On this reissue, multiple compilations and live albums have been added, and while they do contain their share of nuggets, their purchase on physical support may be questionable, as they generate repetition and ultimately remain primarily of historical interest, except to band afficionados.