‘CLOSURE’ TRACKLISTING :
1. Closure
2. Landline
3. Exile
4. Let Me Introduce You
5. Living For Other People
6. You Never Stop Loving (The One That You Loved)
7. Attention To Life
8. I Left You Twice, Not Once
‘Closure’ is the aptly-named, 12th and final official album by cult London-based Anglo-French self-proclaimed “ghost rock” group, marking their 20th year of existence.
‘Closure’ unabashedly echoes a track from their 2000 album, ‘Artists’ Rifles’ entitled, ‘No Closure.’ As founder member and songwriter Glen Johnson explains, “Psychological closure, as a concept, seems to have become more and more prevalent in recent years, with people searching for some sort of a mythical formal conclusion, particularly to broken relationships, so that they can move on. But I would argue that you can’t just brick these things up.’ Indeed, this theme permeates much of the album, most evidently in the title track, (“Let’s move this rock and seal this cave…”) but also in the self-evident, ‘You Never Stop Loving (The One That You Loved’).
‘Landline,’ perhaps rather perversely inspired by the first line of Drake’s mega-hit, ‘Hotline Bling,’ (“You used to call me on your cellphone…”), pictures a lost love as a voice on a forgotten, dusty answering machine : “your ghost on a tape, in a drawer at the back…”
The minimal electronic pop song, ‘Exile,’ likewise, is an appeal to a former lover who no longer returns the calls of her banished beau, now reduced to wandering the landscape but still living in the same house, should she ever come knock on his door. ‘Living For Other People’ beautifully paints a picture of Johnson, alone in the backstreets of Rotherhithe, South East London, “passive, watching these women never, ever having suffered charm” and “these knotted men with upturned hearts.”
‘Closure,’ includes a guest vocal appearance from Peter Milton Walsh, singer of acclaimed Australian chamber pop band, The Apartments on ‘Attention To Life.’ Audrey Riley, go-to cellist for the likes of Nick Cave, The Smiths, The Cure, The Go-Betweens (to name but a few) provides luscious string arrangements on many of the tracks here.
For this final album, the prime nucleus of Piano Magic were Glen Johnson (guitars, voice, programming), Franck Alba (guitars), Jerome Tcherneyan (drums, percussion), Alasdair Steer (bass) and Paul Tornbohm, himself, the band’s original drummer for that first ever Wag club show (now on keyboards). Josh Hight of Irons provides backing vocals on ‘Closure’ and ‘Exile.’ Oliver Cherer (aka Dollboy) provides brass on ‘Attention To Life.’
‘Closure’ comes in a beautiful 6 panel digifile CD and on 180gm vinyl (the latter now sold out). Cover photography by Martin Andersen/Andersen M Studio. All other photography by Nieves Mingueza. Layout by Jeff Teader. Concept by Glen Johnson. Initial copies came with an A5 photocopied fanzine (now deleted) featuring interviews with the band members, guests and visual artists.
Buy/download/stream ‘Closure’ from the official Piano Magic Bandcamp page
