Will Saul's Close project generated buzz last year in an increasingly common way: by presenting itself as the work of an anonymous producer. What made the project stand out was that its subterfuge wasn't some overcompressed YouTube dump but a finely tailored media project with an elegant (and slightly racy) website, intriguing track snippets, and remixes of name artists like Scuba and Little Dragon. Whoever was behind Close had resources and friends. Saul's name-- he announced himself the progenitor of Close last October-- doesn't smell of a proper big reveal, but the label boss behind Simple Records and, more recently, Aus Music, has helped spearhead the underground house music revival in the UK.
Getting Closer, for the savvy !K7 label, is the product of all the intrigue. It's a definitive and self-assured move away from the dance floor toward lustrous, house-leaning pop structures. The real surprise is the tempos. Some dance music gets labeled otherwise simply because it's meant for non-club environments-- the Field is a good example-- but Getting Closer's ten tracks are almost uniformly slow and lush, unfolding calmly and ending tidily. The goal, Saul says, was to make an album, rather than a collection of tracks; something requiring repeat listens, something that would last.
For about 50 minutes, Getting Closer cordons off a world of spitshined chords, luxe texture, and amorous bass. It's pop music, but only just so, like a house version of a Massive Attack record: a host of collaborators, some studio trickery, lots of downtempo groping. And grope it does. While Getting Closer doesn't play like a dance record, it doesn't play much like any other kind of record either, vacillating wildly between spacey lounge ("I Died 1000 Times"), synth-funk ("Cubizm"), pitch-black dub ("Born in a Rolling Barrel"), and a half-dozen other variants. Some of these can be awkward fits: the beatific balladry of "Wallflower", featuring vocalist Fink, is too severe and self-impressed. The nadir is "Future Love", a feckless pilfering of Burial's dark steam.
All of which is too bad, because Getting Closer sounds marvelous. It's clearly a work that meant a lot to its creator, sounding fussed over and lovingly polished. The clarity and separation Saul brings to "My Way" (presented here as a remix by Tanner Ross and Slow Hands), a tip-toeing ballad featuring Joe Dukie, is rare, as is the bluish synthesizer smoke that he lets ribbon from the song's cracked window. The only upbeat track is lead single "Beam Me Up", which features Scuba and Charlene Soraia, an astral-pop burner that builds evenly until its chorus rockets upward. Getting Closer could use more of "Beam"'s vigor, but the some of the instrumental tracks-- the floral unfolding of "OSCAR" and the bustling "Time Fades" add worthy texture. The highly styled "I Died"-- also featuring Soraia-- is magnetic. Her voice cuts through Saul's manicured future pop nicely.
Saul's productions under his own name have always been pleasant but nondescript. Getting Closer represents a step forward for him because it feels like an album that has carved out its own little place in the world. Some of that may be the pre-release marketing, to be sure, but Getting Closer's clean lines and airtight style hold together a collection of disparate styles. Getting Closer is fashionable and curious, but there's an extreme lucidity to it that is off-putting, forgetting for a moment a handful of dud tracks. It's too forward in its attempts at pop, there's no deception. Saul made an album, true to his goal, but Getting Closer begs for observation, not immersion.
