About
Close to Forever
The band now complete, Close to Forever went on to find their spiritual home at Sydney’s legendary Venue 505, doing regular sold out gigs to an ever-increasing audience.
Around this time Ben and Dale had started writing their own material, with the form and sound of the songs coming together as they played on stage. They now had more than enough material to record new work featuring their rich sound, but how to fund it?
In late 2018, they embarked on a mighty crowd funding journey and with the generous support of their ardent fans, they reached their target which gave them sufficient funds to commence the recording of their debut album.
Recorded at Electric Ave in Sydney by studio legend Phil Punch, mixed by Tim Whitten, mastered by William Bowden at King Willy Studios, with artwork by Close to Forever and design production assisted and developed by Kitty Blackman at Troy Horse, the album “Hearts and Desire” is an 8 track compilation of favoured pieces. Its long journey of creation, with many plot twists from initial recording through to final product, was managed despite the devastation and uncertainty of a world-wide pandemic.
“Hearts and Desire”, is a searing and haunting recording, a beautiful mix of rich vocal harmony and luscious arrangements. After receiving glowing reviews from their Pozible supporters, who got their pre-release copies late in 2021, Close to Forever are thrilled to be finally launching their debut album on 16th October 2022 at the Great Club.
As the music world starts reopening, Close to Forever can’t wait to nationally tour the album, and share the sonic beauty that is “Hearts and Desire”.
The core and heart of Close to Forever are vocalist Dale Caldwell and guitarist Ben Fink.
They met during the 1990s, veterans of Sydney’s infamous anarcho-syndicalist singing and drumming band “Voices from the Vacant Lot”.
Dale was a founding member of “Voices”, a principal singer with the Martenitsa ensemble and session singer with the likes of Ed Kuepper, David Studdert (the Tactics) and iOTA. However she was starting to wind down these musical commitments, searching for a new musical direction. As a female artist without a creative home she wanted to create space for something new.
Ben, meanwhile, was crazy busy, having built a career playing constantly in multiple bands, touring around Australia, but a serious illness in 2010 caused him to take stock and reassess where he really wanted to spend his energy.
Ben approached Dale: “People need to hear that beautiful voice of yours!”, so they met to sing a song or two. From the very first song, their ability to seamlessly tune in to each other in voice and energy become evident, and Close to Forever was born.
Cherry-picking material from some of their favourite musicians such as PJ Harvey, Nina Simone, Elvis Costello and Don McGlashan while also reinventing traditional art folk rarities, the newly forged duo started to create a distinctive sound of their own, centred around close vocal harmony and the ethereal sonic landscapes of Ben’s guitar.
Gigging regularly at warehouses, festivals and galleries further shaped their unique sound. Their debut eponymous EP was recorded live at Ben’s studio, and launched to a sold out audience at Camelot Lounge in Sydney on 31st August 2014, with special guest musicians Danny Heifetz and Veronique Serret. After this special live experience they become aware of the potential for other instrumentation in their music. Seemingly through mystical accumulation, they acquired - one member at a time - what they now believe to be the best band in the world!
First up was Danny Heifetz - drums (Mr Bungle) and Peter Hollo - cello (Tangents), followed by Sam Golding- horns (Mara Big Band) and then finally Chris Abrahams - piano (The Necks).
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