MMM: Close To Me – The Cure

Milo here.

THEY. NEVER. STOP.

Today, we’re looking at another bigboi of 80s alt rock, with The Cure’s Close To Me, from their 1985 release, The Head On The Door. Check the audio below:

Yet another band Reuben has a vast amount more experience with, The Cure have always intrigued me in terms of visuals and style, with Robert Smith’s off-kilter look always peaking my interest just to the point right before I wanted to listen to them. However, when I walked in on Reuben to this track, I instantly recognised the minimalist guitar riff from it being kinda omnipresent in British culture, as with many Cure songs.
However, I came for that guitar riff, and stayed for the rest of this absolutely genius song. The lowkey bass grooves on this thing are wonderful, as is the darting percussion, made up of handclaps, brushes and almost schizophrenic exhales on top of the drums. That being said, that padded cell charm makes this track stick in my head since then and become quickly one of my favourite songs right now. This is all characterised in Smith’s paranoid and charismatic vocal performance. With the offbeat inflections and almost feline hisses, I’ve never heard a performance quite like this one, and I can see it become one of my true favourites as time passes.

“I’ve waited hours for this, I’ve made myself so sick.”

Lots of hugs, kisses and lacerations

Milo.