History Music / Closer

''Closer'' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. Recorded at Music/PinkFloyd's Britannia Row studio and once again produced by Martin Hannett, it came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor ''Music/UnknownPleasures'' the songs are even more dour and decidedly more experimental, with four of them (in order, "Isolation", "Heart and Soul", "The Eternal", and "Decades") making prominent use of haunting synthesizer arrangements that would serve as the groundwork for the surviving bandmates' work as Music/NewOrder. Note that these four tracks were written in early 1980; the other five songs, which are more rockist in composition, were realized fresh off the heels of ''Unknown Pleasures'' during the latter half of 1979.

* IWantMyMommy: "Isolation"

!! ''The tropes are now part of my future, the present is well out of hand'':

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joy_division_closer_3063.jpg]]

!! ''The tropes are now part of my future'':

''Closer'' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. Recorded at Music/PinkFloyd's Britannia Row studio , it came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor ''Music/UnknownPleasures'' and once again produced by Martin Hannett, the songs are even more dour and decidedly more experimental, with four of them (in order, "Isolation", "Heart and Soul", "The Eternal", and "Decades") making prominent use of haunting synthesizer arrangements that would serve as the groundwork for the surviving bandmates' work as Music/NewOrder. Note that these four tracks were written in early 1980; the other five songs, which are more rockist in composition, were realized fresh off the heels of ''Unknown Pleasures'' during the latter half of 1979.

''Closer'' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. Recorded at Music/PinkFloyd's Britannia Row studio, it came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor ''Music/UnknownPleasures'', the songs are even more dour and decidedly more experimental, with four of them (in order, "Isolation", "Heart and Soul", "The Eternal", and "Decades") making prominent use of haunting synthesizer arrangements that would serve as the groundwork for the surviving bandmates' work as Music/NewOrder. Note that these four tracks were written in early 1980; the other five songs, which are more rockist in composition, were realized fresh off the heels of ''Unknown Pleasures'' during the latter half of 1979.

Heart and soul, one will burn."''\\
--'''"Heart and Soul"'''

* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: "The Eternal".

''Closer'' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. It came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor ''Music/UnknownPleasures'', the songs are even more dour and decidedly more experimental, with four of them (in order, "Isolation", "Heart and Soul", "The Eternal", and "Decades") making prominent use of haunting synthesizer arrangements that would serve as the groundwork for the surviving bandmates' work as Music/NewOrder. Note that these four tracks were written in early 1980; the other five songs, which are more rockist in composition, were realized fresh off the heels of ''Unknown Pleasures'' during the latter half of 1979.

* NewSoundAlbum: Quoth Website/{{Wikipedia}}, ''Closer'' "featured an even darker, doomed Curtis and a total abandonment of the punk aesthetic for a more unearthly, primeval sound." Compared to ''Unknown Pleasures'', the album is far more experimental in tone and makes greater use of synthesizers, to the point where Joy Division at this point seems like an almost completely different band than the one that made "Disorder" and "She's Lost Control".

* NewSoundAlbum: Quoth the Other Wiki, ''Closer'' "featured an even darker, doomed Curtis and a total abandonment of the punk aesthetic for a more unearthly, primeval sound." Compared to ''Unknown Pleasures'', the album is far more experimental in tone and makes greater use of synthesizers, to the point where Joy Division seems like an almost completely different band than the one that made "Disorder" and "She's Lost Control".

* NewSoundAlbum: Quoth TheOtherWiki, ''Closer'' "featured an even darker, doomed Curtis and a total abandonment of the punk aesthetic for a more unearthly, primeval sound." Compared to ''Unknown Pleasures'', the album is far more experimental in tone and makes greater use of synthesizers, to the point where Joy Division seems like an almost completely different band than the one that made "Disorder" and "She's Lost Control".

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Closer'' is a lot more synth-heavy than ''Music/UnknownPleasures''.

--> ''I'm ashamed of the things''
--> ''I've been put through''

Deciding which one of the two albums is the band's best can still cause {{flame war}}s among Joy Division fans, but everyone agrees they are both great. Fan favourites from this album include "Isolation", "Dead Souls", "Colony" and "Heart and Soul".

* HearingVoices: "Dead Souls":
--> ''Calling me... Calling me''
--> ''They keep calling me''.
--> ''They keep calling me''.

* LastNoteNightmare: "Isolation" and "A Means to an End", which slowly comes to an end. "Isolation" is an interesting case in that it's just the last few seconds of the song being played backwards, the end result of Martin Hannet's hasty attempts to reverse a junior sound engineer's damaging of the song's master recording.

''Closer'' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. It came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor ''Music/UnknownPleasures'', the songs are even more dour. Deciding which one of them is the band's best album can still cause {{flame war}}s among Joy Division fans, but everyone agrees they are both great. Fan favourites from this album include "Isolation", "Dead Souls", "Colony" and "Heart and Soul".

* DespairEventHorizon: "Heart and Soul":

* DownerEnding: "Decades", both for the album and the entire band as the last (definite) Joy Division song, which earns this on account of both its [[LaserGuidedKarma lyr]][[DespairEventHorizon ics]] and its music.

* LastNoteNightmare: "Isolation" and "A Means to an End", which slowly comes to an end.

* {{Synthpop}}: "Isolation", "Heart and Soul" and "Decades" show the band experimenting with the genre that the surviving members would later perfect as Music/NewOrder.

* EpicRocking: Several songs clock in at around 6 minutes. Considering how the album managed to get ten more minutes of length out of fewer songs than ''Music/UnknownPleasures'', there probably would have been more of these had Ian not become a depressed epileptic by this point.

* {{Synthpop}}: "Isolation", "Heart and Soul" and "Decades" show the bands early attempts of this style.

'''''Closer''''' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. It came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor ''Music/UnknownPleasures'', the songs are even more dour. Deciding which one of them is the band's best album can still cause {{flame war}}s among Joy Division fans, but everyone agrees they are both great. Fan favourites from this album include "Isolation", "Dead Souls", "Colony" and "Heart and Soul".

The album was listed at nr. #157 in Magazine/RollingStone's [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time]].

* BrokenPedestal: How the person in "Decades" views himself.

* CerebusSyndrome: The album starts grim, & gets progressively gloomier throughout the set, ending with songs about the funeral of a social outcast & a visit to hell, which he is promptly rejected from.
* ComeToGawk: "Atrocity Exhibition" is about people who pay to see a barely living man in an asylum.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The [[Music/UnknownPleasures first album]] was certainly dark, but often hid its gloomy themes behind catchy, punk-inspired tunes & indirect narratives. ''Closer'' takes a positively listless approach by comparison, having far fewer {{hope spot}}s, slowing the pace & increasing the gloom present in the music by a considerable degree on its second side.

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The album cover was designed by Peter Saville.

* DownerEnding: "Decades", both for the album & the entire band as the last (definite) Joy Division song, which earns this on account of both its [[LaserGuidedKarma lyr]][[DespairEventHorizon ics]] and its music.

--> ''God in his wisdom took you by the hand/ God in his wisdom made you understand''

--> ''Calling me... calling me''

* LonelyPianoPiece: "The Eternal" is dominated with downbeat piano playing & synthesized choir effects.
* LyricalDissonance: "Isolation", a bouncy synth-pop tune with gloomy lyrics.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: A black-and-white photograph of the Appiani family tomb in the Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno in Genoa, Italy. This, of course, lead to very unfortunate implications after Curtis' death.

* {{Synthpop}}: "Isolation", "Heart & Soul" and "Decades" show the bands early attempts of this style.

* AccentuateTheNegative: Its a Joy Division album. There's no talking about sunshine and rainbows here.

The album was listed at nr. #157 in Magazine/RollingStone's [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time]].

'''''Closer''''' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. It came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor ''Music/UnknownPleasures'', the songs are even more dour. Deciding which one of them is the band's best album can still cause [[FlameWar flame wars]] among Joy Division fans, but everyone agrees they are both great. Fan favourites from this album include "Isolation", "Dead Souls", "Colony" and "Heart And Soul".

# "A Means To An End" (4:07)

# "Heart And Soul" (5:51)

# "A Means To An End" (4:00)

!!Principal Members:

* DespairEventHorizon: "Heart and Soul".

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: "Twenty Four Hours"
--> ''Got to find my destiny before it gets too late''
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The album cover was designed by Peter Savile.
* DrivenToSuicide: A huge theme, certainly in light of Curtis' eventual untimely end.
* DownerEnding: "Decades", both for the album & the entire band as the last (definite) Joy Division song, which earns this on account of both its [[LaserGuidedKarma lyr]][[DespairEventHorizon ics]] & its music.

* GodIsLoveSongs: "Colony".
--> ''God in his wisdom took you by the hand/ God in his wisdom made you understand''
* GothRock: A cornerstone of the genre.

* HearingVoices: "Dead Souls".

* LastNoteNightmare: "Isolation" and "A Means To An End", which slowly comes to an end.

* SelfDeprecation: "Isolation".

** "Colony" was inspired by Creator/FranzKafka's short story '"In The Penal Colony".

'''''Closer''''' is the second and final studio album by Music/JoyDivision, released in 1980. It came out a mere month after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide. Compared to its predecessor, ''Music/UnknownPleasures'' the songs are even more dour. Deciding which one of them is the band's best album can still cause [[FlameWar flame wars]] among Joy Division fans, but everyone agrees they are both great. Fan favourites from this album include "Isolation", "Dead Souls", "Colony" and "Heart And Soul".

* AccentuateTheNegative: Its a Joy Division album. No talking about sunshine and rainbows here.

* CrapsackWorld: A strong theme way beyond the point of despair.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The [[Music/UnknownPleasures first album]] was certainly very dark, but often hid it's gloomy themes behind catchy, punk-inspired tunes & indirect narratives. ''Closer'' takes a positively listless approach by comparison, having far fewer HopeSpot's & slowing the pace & increasing the gloom present in the music by a considerable degree on it's second side.