“Embrac[ing] both the destructive and constructive connotations of its titular tool,” we wrote of closebye‘s forthcoming LP Hammer of My Own in a preview back in June, “the new album finds catharsis in razing what stood before, clearing the ground for a new version of Closebye to slowly rise.” The record arose during a rocky period for the New York outfit, something accentuated by the catastrophic impact of the pandemic on the music industry, leaving them in need of a hard reset.
But in performing this rebuild, Closebye found themselves thinking deeply on themes of work and self-reliance, especially within a society which places the onus squarely on every individual, and how taxing such an existence can be. The lyrics ruminate on “the struggle to come to grips with self-reliance, with constant shifts of blame, projection, co-dependency,” singer-songwriter Jonah Paul Smith describes, “ending with a new sobering independence, and the realization that only you can be your own saviour.”
You’d be correct to sense cynicism in this words, but while Smith’s lyrics and delivery possess an understandable exhaustion with this world, the same cannot be said of the Closebye sound. Hammer of My Own might barely break thirty minutes, but the succinct runtime belies the songs’ expansive nature. The dense layers of guitars and synth by Julian Paint Smith are shot through with an almost rave-adjacent energy, with bassist Margaux Bouchegnies (AKA Margaux) and drummer Simon Clinton working to aim somewhere between nineties rock and dance to achieve a momentum capable of sweeping the listener off their feet. Latest single and title track introduces just how infectious a combination this proves to be.
Cause you hold the nail, hold the nail
I swing the hammer
Steady and strong, hand on the wall
I smash your finger
With a hammer of my own
Watch the video by Haley Parsa below:
Hammer of My Own is out on the 23rd August and you can pre-order it now.
