Joy Division – Closer: no lessons to be learnt

I always knew Closer was a better album than Unknown Pleasures, although I always liked Unknown Pleasures more. I guess the reasons being Closer is less accessible, heavier to listen to, and a bias towards Unknown Pleasures as it was my first JD album. But lately Closer stroke a chord within me, and it has grown to become a very personal album for me, so despite as much was being written about Joy Division, I feel it is the right time to drop a personal note on this very special album.

Closer was strange, right from the start. Side A was groovy, dancey and catchy like a pop-hit in every way. It sounded almost cheerful. The bass lines are in major keys. The drum grooves are upbeat and reassuring. Yet it bears this unshakeable feeling of absurdity. You couldn’t really make out whether to feel happy or sad. It makes you feel utterly uneasy. The jagged, machinic, chainsaw-like noisy guitar sounds like a million voices in your head. The sweetness of the synth tunes sound like news that are too good to be true. “This is the way, step inside!” An ominous invitation. And before you knew it, you’ve already switched to side B, slowly being sucked into the abyss of personal torment and depression.

Closer didn’t have very dynamic developments. It didn’t have explosive highs and contrasting lows. It’s quite flat to be exact. It never tried to go epic. But it’s slowly dragging you down. It’s a very subtle decline, so slight that you wouldn’t even notice you’re heading downwards. It doesn’t try to induce any feeling in you. Instead it confuses you, just like reality in plain sight. It wasn’t meant to be understood or analysed. It was a documentation of a personal journey. It was a tortured soul repressed, and when one could no longer contain it anymore.

And there was a tinge of cold wickedness in this album, in particular the first half. I’m not sure if it was intended, but that’s what I picked up from it. (Bearing in mind that Hooky and Barney were probably just trying to write “that fast dancey track”) It didn’t feel like the kind of evil that would eat you alive. Its not about an unrested soul or a demonic presence. It’s the kind of evil in which you played a part, without yourself noticing. You are trying to run away from it, but at the same time you’re haunting other people. It’s more of an inertia, a tendency toward mediocrity. Everyday choices, actions and consequences. And as you go deeper into the album, as you flip the sides, you find yourself already entangled in all the mess you created, and there’s no turning back.

And there’s no lessons to be learnt from this album. There was no resolution. That’s just it.

I think the most fascinating thing about Joy Division was that none of Hooky, Barney or Stephen knew nor cared to know what the music they were writing was about. And yet the unwittingly genius music combined with the personal statements and artistry of Ian Curtis to form such a strong body of work. And that’s what so great about them.