FIZZ - 'Close One'
While their newest single might be called ‘Close One’, it’s quickly becoming clear that FIZZ have an absolute home run on their hands.
Creative Collective FIZZ, the family of favourites dodie, Orla Gartland, Martin Luke Brown and Greta Isaac are here with their latest single ‘Close One’. It’s released in anticipation of their debut album ‘The Secret to Life’ set to drop in September, and gives a tantalising hint at the musical magic to come. A song of escape and twenty-something-existentialism, it’s fast becoming a contender for one of the biggest tracks of the summer which really is no surprise given the experience and talent of everyone who has made it.
The lyrics explore the intensity of a relationship where you don’t quite know where you stand. There’s this sense of exhilaration and anticipation but it’s underpinned by this more mature understanding that danger lies ahead. The opening lines couldn’t put it more perfectly :
“Good god, you’re in my kitchen. It’s been so long, ‘don’t we look different’ you said.”
Immediately that sense of bewilderment is captured. It’s a complicated feeling; a potentially fatal combination of a bit of fear and sensual curiosity as someone you knew once comes back into your life. You recognise the person you lived and loved with, but also wonder if they ever changed the ways they promised you they could.
The vocals are led by Gartland’s more than capable pipes as she muses on the nostalgia and trepidation of this relationship. Quite different in vibe to the other songs they have collected and created together, the track came from a late night jam between Brown and drummer friend Mat. Warm, playful but a warning nonetheless, the track toys with the uncertainty of relationship that has burned you once already but continues to draw you in. The characters slip in and out of their boundaries, walking the fine line between the genuine intrigue and excitement of being with someone and that chaos and disaster which comes with the inevitable fall out.
Gartland herself articulates and acknowledges this conflict: ‘Is this habit? Or something I shouldn’t do?’ but at the same time understands that the body wants what it wants. This is beautifully matched by the instrumentation, embodying that youthful almost meddling curiosity of something deliciously dangerous. The piano line in particular is constant and never truly resolving, speaking to that sense of wanting to know but not yet daring to make the leap. The rythmn section and baseline build beneath, culminating in the chorus lyric ‘Yeah that was a close one’ where Martins vocals blend in. It’s as though the partner in question is also playing this game, towing the lines between what he knows he shouldn’t do and what he wants to do anyway.
The bridge is particularly stunning. Gartland is joined by dodie and Isaac on background vocals, singing ‘no’ as Brown is ever alluring with the prospect of what could be ‘let’s go dancing’. The push and pull is never clearer than in this moment and it’s matched by the instrumentation which shifts between a floating piano and dreamy melody on the femme line and the more intense and staccato masc one. The sensual dynamic is contagious and you can’t help but want to dance along. The song ends without really telling us how the story resolves, Gartland just leaves us with the line that they know they’re happier. Happier with what though, perhaps we’ll never know.
In preparation for the album release, FIZZ have begun to release tickets for their U.K. and Ireland tour that’s set to kick off in the autumn. Keen fans will need to be quick off the mark to get their hands on them-if their Hoxton Hall show last month is anything to go by the tour will sell out fast. They’ve got a feature at Latitude Festival this weekend but for those who can’t make it, you can keep up with their shenanigans on their podcast series which seeks to give fans further insight into the goings on of the band. The track list has now officially been released for the album, so all we can do is wait patiently till the 15th and live in hope that they will continue to tease us with another single.
Words by Kirsty-Ann Thomson
