Izzy Outerspace ignites a fiery, emotionally charged storm on “Closer,” the dramatic lead single from her upcoming album ‘A Romance Truly Tried,’ blending raw confession with a cinematic alt-rock eruption that cuts straight to the bone.

Stream: “Closer” – Izzy Outerspace

oft branches trembling overhead; dirt, bark, wind, and breath all collapsing into the same tight, hungry space. A radiant, emotionally charged voice rips through the underbrush, riding waves of sweaty overdrive and churning, pounding drums with a force that feels volcanic.

Izzy Outerspace’s “Closer” hits like an exposed nerve – an intimate, inner reckoning set to a cinematic, impassioned, turbulent alternative soundtrack. The guitars roar; the melodies burn hot and bright; the drums hit heavy, the beat sweltering and unrelenting. Isabelle Baumgartner’s voice is blisteringly alive on the mic, a vessel of raw emotion peeling back its own humanity in real time. It’s aching; it’s emotive; it’s unapologetic and dynamic and dramatic – oh, is it dramatic. “Closer” isn’t a whisper of desire; it’s a full-body confession.

tell me
I want to know
or rest in the unknown
quiet calls of help
you’re never really there

never satisfied
never satisfied

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Closer,” the lead single and music video off Izzy Outerspace’s upcoming alternative record A Romance Truly Tried, set for release in 2026. Mixed and mastered by Josiah Mazzaschi at Cave Studio LA and recorded by Christian Paul Philippi, “Closer” marks a fierce new chapter for the Swiss-born, Los Angeles–based artist. Following her 2024 Lip Service EP and 2025’s Dreamstate EP (produced by ex–Smashing Pumpkins member Jeff Schroeder), this song arrives as the first taste of a record that pushes harder, hits deeper, and embraces the messier edges of love, longing, and emotional heat.

“I love how writing helps me connect to an unconscious part of myself. And how a song can have different meanings for each listener. Music is so powerful in that way,” Baumgartner tells Atwood Magazine. That sense of mystery and multiplicity runs all through “Closer.” It feels like a conversation with someone you can’t quite reach – and with the part of yourself that still, stubbornly, wants them anyway. “Tell me / I want to know / or rest in the unknown” hovers between confrontation and surrender, craving clarity even as it acknowledges the safety of ambiguity.

keep your
pupils small
you’re a
human fly
on the wall
i still think
about throwing
that leash
i just wanted to
keep you closer

As the song deepens, its tension only tightens. Baumgartner’s lyrics tilt between unnerving and intimate – “keep your pupils small / you’re a human fly on the wall” – painting her subject as a skittering, elusive presence, always nearby but never fully there. The repeated confession, “I just wanted to keep you closer, closer,” turns the chorus into a mantra of longing, resignation, and raw emotional need. Her voice rides the distortion with a heat that feels almost dangerous, cracking at the edges just enough to let the ache bleed through. It’s turbulent and emotionally charged, an alt-rock fever that never truly lets up.

The accompanying video, shot and edited by Molly Koch, keeps things grounded and immediate. Filmed outdoors among trees and dense greenery, it neither over-explains nor imposes a concept: Instead, it offers an unfiltered, up-close look at Izzy Outerspace and her bandmates – Tommy Oerding on drums and Clifton Weaver on bass – locked into the song’s storm. Nature becomes a loose frame for the chaos, a living backdrop as they thrash, sweat, and smolder through Baumgartner’s inner reckoning.

if you’re still here
if you’re still here
i offer you
i offer you
the world

That performance is the emotional core of “Closer.” Baumgartner sings like she’s trying to claw her way to the truth – or away from it – with every strained breath and heated crescendo. The production leans into that volatility, letting the guitars snarl, the bass grind, and the drums punch through the mix without smoothing away the song’s rougher edges. It’s dramatic in the best possible way: Big feelings, big sounds, and a sense of immediacy that makes the whole thing feel alive in your hands.

Swiss–born and raised and now living in Los Angeles, Baumgartner grew up immersed in Britpop, German punk, and the heavy emotional pull of learning guitar late in life. “I’ve always looked at it as a meditative process,” she says. “I enjoy and want to create music where you feel like you’re entering a different realm and you can sort of disappear.” Over the past few years – from her 2020 debut Amazon to 2022’s Caught, 2024’s Lip Service, and 2025’s Dreamstate – she has carved out a sonic identity built on introspection, atmosphere, distortion, and emotional release.

don’t wanna pretend
just wanna be
your friend
don’t wanna pretend
I just wanted to keep you closer

A Romance Truly Tried feels like the culmination of that evolution, a body of work that opens its ribs rather than hiding behind haze. “Closer,” out November 21, is its blistering first chapter: A dramatic, impassioned, emotionally charged eruption that lingers long after the final chord dissolves. Let this song pull you into its orbit, hold you in its heat, and see what rises to the surface when you get a little closer. Stream this single and watch the music video exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and let yourself sit in the intensity of everything Izzy Outerspace lays bare in this charged and churning reckoning.

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Stream: “Closer” – Izzy Outerspace

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