40 Years Of Joy Division's Masterpiece: Closer
While the pulsars on Joy Division's 1979 debut album Unknown Pleasures are as iconic a piece of cultural iconography as the band ever made, the intoxicating riffing on songs like She's Lost Control or the dark but distinctly dancable rhythms of Disorder are comfortable to just about any musical palette. The moment where Ian Curtis looked deeper into his own psyche to make the despondent and haunting soundtrack to his own mental anguish refused to compromise. It's jagged edges and manic energy are a blend of a slower and less methodical instrumental palette paired with the gut wrenching poetry of a tortured artist. Closer isn't easy, comfortable or nice but behind it's often intimidating veneer is the Salford bands true masterpiece, hiding in plain sight this whole time. The first of the records 9 songs, Atrocity Exhibition , is the albums mission statement. Curtis' lyrics reflect his livelihood, the paranoid epileptic forced to stand on stage night in ...