Soft Years

Closing Eyes surfaced in 2014 as the solo outing of Eirik Asker Pettersen with the EP Melodies for the contemporary mind – a short, contemplative, psychedelic pop trip. The songs were performed live as a trio. This new, more organic approach made sense and out of that grew Closing Eyes as a band. The trio of Eirik, Magnus and Emilie went in the studio with Emil Nikolaisen of Serena Maneesh to record their debut full length. A collection of pretty sugary pop songs mostly about relationships and lost time. This was aptly titled Soft Years and will be out on Eget Selskap in 2018. Nothing But Hope And passion have named Closing Eyes as one of the Rising-Stars-To-Watch in 2018!

When asked about the lyrics Eirik explain, I’m restless and very occupied with the concept of time, to the point where I’m completely obsessed with it. I have all these ideas on how to best spend it, but I still end up doing way too much of what I specifically agreed with myself not to spend time on anyway. That’s a recurring theme. Also, you can’t avoid the theme of love in pop. So yes, there are a few songs that came from new and old relationships. Something for the heart.

Soft Years came to life after a couple of intense sessions in the studio. The only real plan was for it to sound as organic as possible. In the past we have used a lot of sequencers and loops, and we really wanted it to sound like it was made by humans this time. We didn’t manage to leave the loops and sequences completely out though. You can’t completely abandon what’s in your DNA.

The reason we ended up calling the record Soft Years was due to a misunderstanding where I misread some words. It stuck with me, so we just went with it. It wasn’t until after the cover was done that I realized ‘soft years’ is a phrase that relates to a child’s infant years. After all, it’s not such a bad name for a debut album.

I am very proud of Soft Years, Eirik says. It’s kind of weird, and can’t seem to decide on one clear path. It takes a few turns along the way, which I believe makes it more exciting than if each song just pulled in the same direction. I guess it feels like a curated playlist and I like that.

These are indie-rock songs filtered through fuzz and haze, melodies buried under effects and echoes to create glowing soundscapes you sink into. - Nothing But Hope And Passion

The first thing that you need to know about Closing Eyes is that they’re a band that do things with style, from the Chromatics-meets-Velvet Underground aesthetic of their press photos to the slick riviera-pop of their first Soft Years single Bambole-Ja Ja Ja Music

Closing Eyes is a new acquaintance of mine, but I instinctively feel like spending more time with this artist - Deichman blogg