Musical Digest: Ferris Pier x Claire DeJean "Closer Now"

There are so many things I miss about the world pre-COVID19...especially when summer time rolls around, Chicagoans starts to appreciate the beautiful city reemerging from underneath the murky fog of springtime's past.

We're gearing up for festivals, picking out our festival gear, outfits, sunscreen...the works. This year...it's different. This year we capsize all of these things into a digital format and watch from the comfort of our couch.

It's hard not to hold back tears, crunching on your fifteenth Lays chip taunted by the sight of your treadmill standing still...waiting for someone to press that 'start' button.

The one thing that can almost always get me up and running is music; not just any type of music though.

There's music that moves, music that sobs, music that speaks...and then an infusion of it all.

Sat in the gloomy state of Washington, Jonathan Pasma, better known as Ferris Pier, sat down with me to discuss this particular phenomenon related to his song "Closer Now" featuring Claire DeJean saying "It’s [ironically] funny that my songs have a happy, dancey vibe to them because they always start out from a much darker place. It’s usually with me at the piano finding a chord structure that makes me feel emotional. It’s a sound that if left alone is simple and what I like to do is balance that."

Indeed the song has an upbeat, dance vibe to it complimented by the "bright and sparkly" vocals of DeJean, who was a contestant on The Voice. Ferris Pier is notorious for blending orchestral with a more ambient electronic sound.

"My background is in piano and then studied jazz in college. I love jazz and the different layers that come with improvising and different colors. It is kind of surprising for me to shift from a jazz background to a real poppy/dancey background. But I feel like I carry a lot of that training with me and what I love about dance music is that it speaks to more people. It has so much life. It starts with a simple beat and then you get to that pre chorus, the energy that starts to build, and then the beat drops in the release. I also love being able to bring in orchestral pieces that round out some of the electronic sounds."

I found this particular twist on music to be unique. Artists usually play it safe or have an established niche. Ferris Pier went for it and created something eccentric and although the song can easily be attributed to a recent romantic falling out, I decided to dive a little deeper.

In hindsight, the lyrics can have varying interpretations. Let's take a look at the first verse.

You thought I'd be here

Waiting like all the other times I was before

I watched you move on

Making a mess but still I see your eyes want more

{bridge}

Yeah I'm over it, I'm sorry

Those wasted nights are gone

Yeah you're time is up, I'm sorry

Now I’ve waited too too long

At first glance, the verse can be transparent. We can go the classic route where: Girl meets boy, boy disappoints girl, there's a falling out but he still misses her. She's done waiting and ready to move on to the next best thing as her patience has ran dry.

Me...I'll go the empirical route. I decided to look at this as a conversation with my biggest enemy, anxiety, which had its peak moments. Anxiety is an emotion that oftentimes paralyzes me to the point where I can't get anything done. It had made its attempts to stop me from pursuing a dream, had me second guess myself, convinced me that my flaws defined me and in that regard made a mess of a carefully curated plan.

While it made a mess and STILL continued to crave more, I've waited too long for it to pass by and instead moved on myself.

Which brings us the chorus:

Oh maybe I'm far from love tonight

But without you, I know, I'm closer now

Maybe I'm lost alone tonight

Letting you go, I know, I'm closer now

I know that I am stronger now

So the chorus is an extension of my previous disentanglement from anxiety. Others can look at this as a separation from an actual human being, but nevertheless the commonality is the breaking free of a toxic entity. The concept of love can allude to self-love. While it might be a long road before self-love is reignited, we're getting closer and closer to it each day.

When discussing the writing process, Ferris Pier mentioned that "The lyrics with Closer Now gives you hope at the end, where going through something hard or letting something go, takes you to closer to happiness or closer to what you’re actually looking for. I love that juxtaposition between something sad and balance it out with something hopeful"

During the interview, I also made the connection to the world's current predicament where during the pandemic, everyone's further apart, but somehow closer than ever. The bonds have only grown thicker. We're only growing stronger.

This theme is especially prevalent in the second verse of the song:

Maybe I'm stronger

Maybe I'm free

It can take longer, it can find me

And though I, I feel that I am, all alone

I breathe in, but I, I can't let-it out

Wrapped up in thoughts of you I know will keep me from finding something real

It's a sentiment to getting your strength back in all forms. Some days it'll be harder, it may take longer to put the pieces all back together, but we're getting there.

In the end, "Remember why we’re making music. it ‘s fun, it gives us life. We’re creating something from nothing. That’s what makes it so special and a lot of time we can lose sight of that especially when we’re trying to search for the perfect sound, the perfect vocalist or focus on finding the right PR avenue… and all those things can be overwhelming. We gotta remember we’re making music because it’s special."

Sometimes it takes just the right melody, a song, a lyric to drag us out of a rut.

Tune into "Closer Now" below and deduce your own conclusion.