Indie pop band Dizzy tackle the difficulty of maintaining long-term friendships in “Close,” a bittersweet tune off their upcoming self-titled third studio album.
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Stream: “Close” – Dizzy
Letting go of the people you care about most is one of the greatest acts of love. But it’s also one of the toughest — the memory of more idyllic times persist and resurface in passing reflection, like sharing a years-old inside joke or overcoming an inconvenience hand-in-hand. People come and go over the course of life’s trials, and naturally, friendships ebb and shift in dynamic and intimacy. In Canadian indie pop quartet Dizzy’s latest single, “Close,” the band crafts a nostalgic sonic atmosphere that will leave you reminiscing on old connections.
“Close,” released via Royal Mountain Records on June 8, is the second track of their forthcoming self-titled LP, out August 18. The song’s concept was born out of a broken-down van during the band’s 2019 tour. Dizzy, comprised of lead singer Katie Munshaw and three brothers Mack, Charlie and Alex Spencer, found themselves stranded in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on American Thanksgiving due to a faulty wheel bearing.
Losing a wheel on
A rammed interstate
And then finding a fix
Thanksgiving day
And the show was a mess
We laughed the whole way
To the hotel we dodge
Noise complaints
And I’m not sad anymore
“It was a hard day but the only thing I can really remember about it is laughing in the mechanics waiting room and then finding our way back to a hotel with a bottle of green room whiskey,” Munshaw said about the track’s inspiration. “We’ve been through a lot as a band but we always manage to reconnect on itchy hotel beds between episodes of Family Guy. ‘Close’ is about a lot of things but mainly it’s about the comfort Mack, Charlie and Alex bring me.”
Munshaw’s forward vocals over strums of an electric guitar immerse listeners into the song from the opening line. As though she is speaking into your ear, Munshaw recounts the tour van incident simply, but in a manner that invites self-reflection: We’ve all had less-than-perfect situations redeemed by the presence of our closest friends. Still, there is dejection underpinning the lilt in Munshaw’s voice, despite insisting that she’s “not sad anymore.”
The chorus introduces a bass guitar and percussion accompaniment to the electric, conjuring a tension that parallels the lyrics, with Munshaw singing, “But if you gotta go, go. / We can blame it on timing.” She acquiesces to the potential for friends to abandon her and attributes it to misaligned circumstance — if only to make the separation sting less. Near the chorus’ end, the bass and drums cut, leaving a filtered guitar and Munshaw’s yearning repetition of “close.”
But if you gotta go, go
We can blame it on timing
I will leave the light on in the hall
Don’t wanna tie you down
To a bird that’s not flying
Or hold you anywhere but
Close
In the second verse, a more prominent bass and drumline emerge as Munshaw seems to reflect on herself, “the girl with the bangs” and “strawberry hair.” The keystone of the verse lies in the final lines: “understand she is mourning / The loss of a space in time.” When we grieve over a lost relationship, romantic or platonic, it can amplify the worst parts of ourselves. For Munshaw, it’s her temper. But she wants the listener to know her fury stems from adjusting to a physical and temporal displacement: She is struggling to relinquish an old version of herself.
She’s not mad and you, you will find
She talks with her hands
When she flips you the bird
Understand she is mourning
The loss of a space in time
An electric guitar takes the lead to punctuate the final chorus, a segment that echoes old Coldplay songs blended with the transcendent riffs of songs like Ethel Cain’s “American Teenager.” Launching into the climactic outro, Munshaw turns her focus back to the song’s addressee, asking whether they tie the idea of home to her. That is, whether they look back on their shared time as much as she does.
“Always felt we were lightning / Just waiting to hit,” ends the song on an abrupt note, implying that Munshaw is waiting for a reconciliation that will never come. It’s a sad truth that people’s paths cross in such meaningful ways for a brief time, because the momentous intersection can lead to a split just as sudden. And often, the estrangement is more durable than the relationship. Coping with impermanence is a complicated task, but “Close” does a remarkable job at capturing the ambivalence and beauty of temporary love.
Oh and when you go home
Is it me that you miss?
Can you divide the rotten fruit
From her pit?
Always felt we went swingin’
Destined to miss
Always felt we were lightning
Just waiting to hit
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Stream: “Close” – Dizzy
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