You wouldn’t quite call what Moon and Aries do dream-pop, not in regards to the industry genre tag and the sonic expectations that go with it, but you can’t deny that they make pop that is very much drenched in dreamlike sonic haze and otherworldly, soulful ambiance.
If dream-pop proper is the sound of pop music being dragged into more shimmering and soulful reams, ones that perhaps are drifting away from the heart of the pop genre, then “Closer to You” feels like things flowing in the opposite direction – the soulful and the shimmering, the chiming and the carming being brought from the fringes into the mainstream to create something that still has a gently contagious accessibility, but which holds itself to much higher sonic standards than moost of its pop peers.
“Closer to You” reminds us of just how deft Moon and Aries is, even when working with the most gorgeously gossemer, the most deliciously delicate and the most meliflously melodic of sounds. Here, beguiling, almost Latin-infused beats feel like the only constant, around which seductive synth sonics and shimmering guitar motifs drift, fusing in a cinematic, soulful, and sensual noir-pop vibe.
And, having already referred to the music as pop several times, I will add that such a description sells it short. If it is pop, then it is pop that is pushing its own benchmarks. Smart yet accessible, leading the creative pack rather than merely following on from what has gone before.
Perhaps it is the song’s relaxed nature, but “Closer to You” is a song that is much cleverer than it first appears. The more you listen, the more rewarding, the more seductive, the more beguiling it becomes.