From Saskatoon, Canada, Close Talker is an indie band with an impressive amount of organic chemistry. Between their easy-going, indie sound, their heartfelt lyrics and their seamless musicianship, Close Talker’s songs emit a certain type of uninhibited expression. This is evident when listening to the band’s new single, “Second Best,” which dropped on July 31.
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“‘Second Best’ is about realizing what is most important in our lives,” the band said in a statement. “The most meaningful things in life come from sharing time with the people closest to us.”
This sense of family and community is strong in Close Talker’s canon… perhaps because the band has grown together since first forming. “We started Close Talker in 2012 as wide-eyed kids only a couple years removed from high school,” the band said. “We jumped into this ‘band thing’ headfirst and started writing, recording and playing shows. We wanted to do it all: play anywhere we could at any venue that would let us. Even if that meant traveling to a different country or continent, we’d do anything we could to make it happen because at the end of the day, all we ever wanted was to be a band.”
But that “road dog” life eventually began to wear on the band. “Grinding in this industry can wear you down fast if you’re not careful,” they said. “Sleepless nights, long drives, shitty food and dirty bars are the name of the game — after 10 weeks of just that (yeah we did a 10-week tour… never again) the novelty of being on the road can slowly wilt away. A night in Paris can turn into just another night in the basement of a bar, and the only thing you start to crave is home; being around the people that our songs are about, and realizing that at that moment, the band can feel like its second best. It’s about the late-night calls when you know no one on the other end is gonna answer, or driving into a city knowing you won’t experience any of it. It’s about missing people deeply because you realize that you need them more than anything.”
With this song as their testament to that feeling, Close Talker gets to the core of a certain strain of “crowded loneliness.” The song’s tasteful arrangement, killer guitar parts and heartfelt vocal delivery perfectly encapsulate that sensation of homesickness, and, in doing so, reminds the listener of just how much there is to be appreciative of.
Listen to “Second Best” by Close Talker below:
