Review by Shannon Shumaker
CLOSENESS’ debut EP, Personality Therapy is an otherworldly soundscape, full of dreamy instrumentals, pulsating rhythms and stunning vocals that will leave you feeling changed within just six songs. Husband and wife duo, Todd and Orenda Fink have created an incredibly intimate sound while exploring new sounds and pushing the boundaries on this release.
“More Romantic” opens the EP with a warm and dreamy feeling, transporting you to another world with smooth vocals and playful instrumentals. It’s hard not to get lost in this first track, which eventually opens up into the darker and more synth heavy, “End of the Maze.” While the first song is very bright and fun, “End of the Maze” is significantly more haunting, both in the vocals and instrumentals. The contrast between the two songs is definitely high, but where they lack in flow they definitely make up for in showcasing CLOSENESS’ versatility.
From “End of the Maze,” things become very dreamy and ambient once more on “Just His Eyes.” Despite echoey and sparse-sounding synth, “Just His Eyes” manages to sound very big before transitioning into the equally reverb heavy “Early Black.”
Each song on Personality Therapy shares a sense of dreamy otherworldliness, but although these tracks excel in utilizing reverb-heavy synth and distorted vocals, they can tend to feel a bit passive at times. Aside from opening track, “More Romantic,” there aren’t many songs on the EP that seem to click so to speak. Dreamy soundscapes make for a very pleasing listen, but it may take a few listens for some of these songs to stick in your head. However, by the end of the EP, there is absolutely no questioning just who CLOSENESS are. Despite contrasting moods between songs, the sounds on the EP are very consistent, leaving quite a bit of promise for any future full-length releases.
Rating: 3/5
Listen to “More Romantic”
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