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Artist
Closebye
12+ albums
indie popindie rockdowntempoUSAdream pop
about
The hammer is one of the most commonly used tools by humankind throughout history, and it’s taken on rich symbolism over thousands of years, showing up in mythology, national flags, political symbols and folk tales as a representation of both industriousness and impulsiveness. For the New York band Closebye, it represents the act of tearing down your old life and building a new one—but, as we all know, it’s a lot easier to knock things down than to build them up again. Self-improvement isn’t as easy as simply taking pilates or meditation: it requires hard work, self-motivation and a willingness to wade into difficult situations. Hammer of My Own, Closebye’s second album, understands this intimately. The music reflects several cycles of creation and destruction: the band’s reformation after finding themselves on the brink of a breakup in 2021, the devastation of the live music industry during the pandemic and the joy of its rebuilding. According to singer-songwriter Jonah Paul Smith, the album’s lyrics are preoccupied with ”the struggle to come to grips with self-reliance, with constant shifts of blame, projection, codependency, ending with a new sobering independence, and the realization that only you can be your own savior.” The music on Hammer of My Own reflects the conflicting impulses of its creation by pairing the band’s gauzy, textural indie rock with a powerful rhythmic chassis suggestive of the early-’90s pairing of rock and rave—bands like Primal Scream and the S
