Soak up the final rays of summer with indie electro pop tune “Closer” by Ellyn Woods; a psychedelic-inspired indie pop song that evokes the same young, wild, and free vibes as eclectic modern psychedelia staples like Tame Impala and Beach House. With soft, warm synths and lofty vocals, this song will take you on a beach vacation in just under four minutes.
As the result of a wide variety of inspiration, this is a difficult song to pigeonhole. It has a deep groove in the bassline, conjuring up mental images of palm tree lined avenues and beaches packed with surfers, all through the grainy yet charming aesthetic of a vintage film lens. At the same time, there’s a retrofuturist sheen to the chorus when it welcomes some shiny new synths. To tie it all together, an infectious dance beat lies underneath it all. So it begs the question, where does this song lie on the vast genre spectrum? You could name anything from electro pop to psychedelia and you would be correct every time. With this much influence behind it, it’s clear that Woods is meticulous and diligent in creating a sound specific to her while evoking certain feelings using musical elements that are familiar to us as an audience. Instead of riding the ever-popular wave of indie pop, she’s creating her own niche, her own little corner in the genre that no one else can replicate. This is a true original.
“Closer” is about visualizing who you want to be and realizing that some sacrifices must be made in order to become that person. That evolution can only happen if we let go of the past and focus on the future— it’s the only way to truly get closer to who we’ll be in the end.
At 18 years old, Ellyn Woods moved to Toronto to pursue music. She performed her own original songs at open mic nights across the city, putting her heart out for strangers to hear and identify themselves with. In 2017, she released her first EP, inspired by folk legend Joni Mitchell, titled Sound of Home after she backpacked around the west coast of Canada. She released another EP in June 2021, “Cabin Days” as a collaborative effort with Montreal-based duo Sterling Grove, who she has been working closely with since 2015. Now representing a sonic shift, Woods’s debut album is set to release late this summer with more dance beats and dreamy, ambient vocals.
Written by Jess Ward