THE NAKED CITY: CLOSE TO FOREVER – FROM THE HEART!
Image: Close To Forever members. Image: supplied
Live music has always been right at the heart and soul of the cultural life of Sydney, despite numerous forces trying to kill it off. In the age of Spotify, Australian Idol and a highly corporatized music industry, creativity is often suppressed as popularism reigns supreme. Nevertheless there are still many musicians and bands in this city keen to make original and innovative music, despite what are often negligible monetary returns. Their longevity is clearly a result of their passion and a desire to produce new and inspiring sounds.
One Sydney band who have long been a part of this often vibrant subculture is the diverse group of musicians known as Close To Forever. Somewhat surprisingly they began as a duo, a while after after Dale Caldwell and Ben Fink met in the group Voices From The Vacant Lot. As Dale recalls:
“We’ve been tuning in vocally and musically with each other since then. We worked with singing unusual harmony and rhythm a lot within that group.”
Fast forward to 2012 and Ben was really keen to create a full-sized band as a vehicle for Dale’s exceptional voice, bringing together their wide musical influences and looking to write original material. Dale notes:
“We were both into jazz, mostly modern for me and Ben’s playing was influenced by Latin, folk, rock and jazz. Both our musical tastes are very varied with my favourite artists being Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, Ed Kuepper and PJ Harvey. I love bands like the Faces and Grinderman. Not that our band sounds like any of those, but they’re the people I listen to.”
Putting a band together involved a wish list of some of Sydney’s finest musicians and eventually saw Peter Hollo from Fourplay and Tangents, Sam Golding from Tango Saloon and Mara Big Band, Danny Heifetz from Mr Bungle and Chris Abrahams from The Necks join the group – truly an all star line up!
Close To Forever then started performing regularly at venues such as the now legendary Venue 505 in Surry Hills run by Cameron Undy and Kerri Glasscock. The club shows were the perfect opportunity to introduce original material and allow the musicians plenty of space for improvisation.
The pandemic saw an end to live performances but provided the opportunity to produce an album, which the band started fundraising for on Pozible in 2018 and recording in 2019. Finally released in October of 2022, Hearts And Desire was enthusiastically received by both fans and fellow musicians such as Lloyd Swanton who commented:
“Has an openness and innocence that took me back to folk records of the ‘60s, and the early encounters between folk and rock. Lovely stuff!”
Such was the quality of the album that it attracted the attention of acclaimed videographer Brendan Cook who agreed to make a video of the title track and single release “Hearts And Desire”. The band envisaged something that could stand on its own merit, a beautiful work of art with a life of its own. Brendan, who had previously created music videos for artists such as Gotye, James Taylor, The Temper Trap and Clare Bowditch, spent many hours animating a selected collection of Dale’s artwork to produce an incredible result.
Having enjoyed the heady days of a vibrant live music scene in Sydney during the ‘90s, all the band realise the importance of small music venues, many of which have disappeared in recent years. The problems facing The Great Club in Marrickville over noise complaints have been well publicised and it’s fitting that the group chose the venue to launch not only their album but its accompanying video. Dale endorses:
“We absolutely love playing live and have found a new favourite venue in The Great Club, run by a dedicated and passionate team who have created a sound supportive space for really great bands to play in – and they have a grand piano!”
Close to Forever launch the video for “Hearts And Desire” with another of their superb live performance at the Great Club in Marrickville on Sunday 2 April from 6.30pm, along with special guest Alister Spence. Brendan Cook will introduce a screening of the video. It’s the end of daylight saving so check your watch and show your support for yet another live music venue that we are in danger of losing.
