Brannen’s “Closure (All I Want Is)” is all about the in-between space between knowing something has ended and accepting that it may never be truly resolved. It’s the feeling that so many of us have, the feeling that we need an answer to something that will make sense of an experience, a conversation that just didn’t get to its conclusion or a relationship that simply didn’t work out. It’s a feeling that’s very difficult to put into words. He deals with it through a very introspective kind of melodic house, using the very nature of the electronic music to explore that emotion which rarely follows a linear path. The title itself is a bit of a paradox really. “Closure” suggests a moment of finality, an end to the story. “All I Want Is” is a very straightforward expression of desire, as if the narrator has reduced it all down to one thing. The combination of the two is actually quite poignant in its contradiction. Sometimes the thing we want most is precisely the thing we can’t have. That’s the emotional core of the song. It’s not necessarily about wanting someone back. It’s not necessarily about trying to repair what’s broken. It could simply be about wanting to understand why it happened, why that person left, why the relationship changed or why that memory still has such a strong hold. It could be about wanting one final conversation that would give some kind of closure. “The hardest goodbyes are often the ones that leave us searching for answers long after the story has ended.” That’s the territory he’s in. It’s a very personal song in that sense, but it’s not necessarily about one particular thing. It could be about heartbreak, it could be about a friendship, it could be about a missed opportunity, it could be about personal change or any number of things where life has moved on and you’re not quite ready to follow. The fact that it’s left open at the end is actually very effective as a central theme. The stories we have that don’t get closed are the ones that we keep coming back to. We keep imagining what could have been, we keep wondering if a different decision would have made a difference. “Closure (All I Want Is)” recognises that restless desire without ever pretending that every question has an answer. It’s set in D minor which is a very reflective key and that’s very much the emotional space it’s in. It’s in that space of wanting to let go and not being able to. It doesn’t present closure as some kind of destination, it presents the desire for closure as the very heart of the song.
Musically it’s a progressive house track in terms of its atmosphere and its melody. It’s a style that’s all about the build up of feeling through the music rather than any kind of literal narrative. Brannen brings to it his 20+ years of experience in music, having been a drummer and a live musician for that long. That experience is very relevant to the track as the central theme is one of movement without necessarily any emotional resolution. Life goes on, time passes, things change but our feelings don’t always move at the same pace. The sense of forward movement that is so central to house music is a perfect contrast to the experience of being stuck in the past. You can go on with your life, you can have your normal routine, you can meet new people and it can all look like you’ve moved on, while in your heart you’re still carrying those unanswered questions which feel as if they’re right there in the present. That’s the foundation of the song really. Movement and uncertainty can co-exist. The track is set in a melodic house framework which is ideal for the various stages of the reflection that the song is asking us to go through. There’s the desire for an answer, the frustration of not getting one, the return to the memories which won’t quite settle and then the realisation that perhaps you just can’t wait for someone or something else to provide that resolution.
Those are not necessarily discrete stages with clear boundaries either, they can all overlap, they can all repeat and they can all vary in intensity. The emphasis on atmosphere and the patient progression of the track is the key to its musical identity and is perfectly suited to this kind of emotional complexity. It doesn’t reduce the subject to a simple ‘forget the past’ message. It allows for the discomfort of still caring about something that may have no place in the present. It’s a reflective track which is very much one for the late night when you’re just going to be confronted by the familiar thoughts and it’s hard to ignore them. The melodic house foundation also connects it to the physicality of electronic music. There’s a balance between the introspection and the rhythm which is very much part of Brannen’s artistic direction. His interest in melodic and progressive house and the influence of artists such as Ben Böhmer, Marsh, Lane 8 and Yotto all point to a sound which is very much about atmosphere and the development of feeling. Ultimately the production is there to serve the song’s central idea which is that the desire for an ending can be very strong even when the circumstances don’t offer a clear path to that ending. The music moves on, the feeling at the heart of it remains unresolved and that’s the very experience that Brannen is exploring.
What makes “Closure (All I Want Is)” so very relatable is that it doesn’t actually tell you what it is that’s been lost or what kind of answer you’re looking for. It’s that very lack of definition that makes it such a personal song. For someone coming out of a relationship it might be about working out why the love just wasn’t there anymore. For another person it might be about accepting that a friendship simply can’t be rekindled, about coming to terms with a decision that can’t be taken back, or about learning to live without the explanation that may never come. The situation is going to be different for everyone but the emotional question is the same; how do you go on when part of you is still looking back? The song acknowledges that the search for an answer can be the experience in itself and that we can remain connected to those moments and memories that we would rather just get over with. There is a crucial difference between finding closure and having the answer you originally wanted though. In some cases another conversation might be the answer. In others the other person simply has no answer that will make it any easier to accept. In other cases the passage of time will change your perspective and you’ll find that an ending doesn’t need to make perfect sense in order for you to be able to move on. Brannen allows all of that to exist in the song, giving it emotional depth without offering up any easy answers. “Closure (All I Want Is)” is also a significant step in his body of work. Having come after the debut single “Tulips” and “Keep Dancing With Me” which were more upbeat, vocal driven melodic house tracks about living in the moment, this is a song that looks at the emotions that can make the present so difficult to live in. The contrast is very clear and it demonstrates the range of emotions that Brannen is now exploring through electronic music; from the joy of the present to the pain of the unresolved. His background as a musician and drummer is very much evident in the project which is a very much rhythm driven piece as well as being melodic and atmospheric. The subject matter of the song gives that musical approach a real emotional focus. “Sometimes closure isn’t about getting the answer we wanted; it’s about finding the strength to move on without it.” That is the real heart of the song. The desire for an answer is completely understandable but peace doesn’t always come in the form that we expect and we don’t necessarily have to pretend that something didn’t matter in order to move on. With “Closure (All I Want Is)” Brannen is exploring that very difficult balance between holding on and letting go and the result is an introspective melodic house track whose meaning is open to all those who are still carrying an unfinished chapter of their own. It’s a song about the questions that remain after an ending, the feelings that take time to settle and the gradual realisation that sometimes the next step can be taken before you’ve actually worked out what you’re doing.
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