Released back in April, Friendship Village is Closet Goth’s second album release and their first album with record label Warped Your Records. Currently touring, Closet Goth is made up of a large ensemble of artists, though only a hand full of them took part in creating Friendship Village, including Colin Bauer, Nick Kivi, Aaron Ponzo and Alexis Molina. Their songs usually walk a line between grunge, punk and art rock, an undoubtedly effective mix that gives their album a variety of sounds that still manage to tie together through their themes and production style.
Closet Goth’s instrumentality is consistently great, fluctuating between a cacophonous, aggressive sound and a far more laid-back melodic style; best displayed in the song “Heartbreak Kid.”
While this can sometimes prevents Friendship Village from flowing from one song to another as nicely as it could, Closet Goth does connect everything together through their lyrical style and themes. The shifting tones created by Closet Goth play into their own abstract lyrics, creating a sense of disorder. In tandem with the actual contents of their lyrics, Closet Goth’s vocals communicate the chaos that is the young adult mind, tackling subjects of relationships, connections, belonging, along with the anxiety intrinsically connected to those themes. In the end, while the drastic change in instrumentals and vocals can be grating, the themes of the album tie it all together nicely.
Heheheh. Closet Goth’s actual Bandcamp page is just kind of fun.
Image Courtesy of Closet Goth.
Closet Goth has improved quite a bit since their last album, Pretty Dead, which while still pretty awesome, lacks the polish of Friendship Village, specifically in their sound mixing. This becomes most clear when comparing the “Do You Think Divine Intervention Gave Me These Abs?” from Pretty Dead and Friendship Village.
Overall Friendship Village is an awesome album and one to check out if you’re into art rock and post-punk music. The increase in quality this album represents already shows both a willingness and an ability to adapt, and hopefully spells the beginning of Closet Goth’s continued growth. If you have the time I would suggest at least giving “Heartbreak Kid” and “Touch Myself” a listen as since they essentially represent the two musical sides of the album and who knows who might enjoy one, if not both of the styles.
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