Closetalker Destination Isolation LP

Sludgy, slow bass starts off this debut from Minneapolis’s CLOSETALKER; drums give a roundhouse lead-in to eight bars of droning guitars—and I thought I had some heavy, doom metal-flavored punk coming my way!  Instead, what followed was a melancholic guitar lead and some vocals like you’d find on a SWINGIN’ UTTERS record, or think of other mid-to-late ’90s Epitaph/Fat Wreck Chords stuff.  The band’s tight, the mix lets you hear everyone distinctly, and the songs are well-structured. It’s kind of push-around, friends-in-the-living-room music, offering a soundbite from Vin Diesel’s character in Fast Five (a quick search revealed) about people important to your life on the closing track “Honestly Livin’.” While this allusion was a little distracting, at least it came at the end, letting the other songs speak for themselves, like the catchy “J Masochist”—given their guitar leads, I assume these dudes are fans?  One can never be sure. CLOSETALKER may not be breaking any boundaries, but Destination Isolation makes for a solid debut.

• Reviewer Willis Schenk
• Label Landlord Corpoltage
• Issue MRR #487 • December 2023