Moving into middle age is really strange. If you’re not there yet, then trust me. One day, or over a period of time, it sets in that you’ve lived half of your life, or more, and that things that once mattered are not as important. You also deal with loss, pain, aging, and even the realization that what led you in your youth has faded.

Planning for Burial, the solo project by Thom Wasluck, long has centered on life’s phases, what they mean, and how they feel. On his fourth full-length “It’s Closeness, It’s Easy,” Wasluck tangles with getting older, noticing shifts in people you’ve long known, losing loved ones and the strange journey through grief (he lost his beloved 17-year-old cat), and watching parents and yourself grow older. There also are good things about it such as realizing what and who truly matters to you and being able to feel more at home as a person. It hurts and it feels freeing. 

“You Think” opens heavy and driving, pained singing pounding, the playing washing over you and overwhelming. Vocals warble as colorful rushes splatter, keys splash, and sounds crash down, making a seamless segue into instrumental “Movement Two.” There, guitars brush, noise rises, and clouds slowly lift, settling into the atmosphere and moving toward “(blueberry pop)” that’s another shorter, instrumental piece. Cello swells as the pace lulls, guitars chill, and the strings send vibrations, slipping out into calm. “A Flowing Field of Green” opens with strings and a guitar glaze, drums sticking, the singing icing as the momentum builds. The playing stirs and then scorches, crumbling down a hill in your mind, spitting heat and corrosion. “With Your Sunglasses on Like a Ghoul” is heated with the guitars burning, emotional riffs weighing down and making their presence felt. Gazey power spirals as the singing lurches, the tempo pushing and pulling, sound fumes blurring. 

“Grivo” is a strange transmission, hushed singing haunting, keys and guitars glowing as if supernatural, a solemn ending heading toward “Twenty-Seventh of February” that engorges right away. Guitars trudge as the fuzz builds, and the strings layer with emotion. A doomy haze hovers as the guitars swelter like an oncoming storm, sounds crape and falter, and everything fades suddenly. “Fresh Flowers for All Time” starts as driving post-punk with the singing slurring, and a chugging, pumping rhythm making your blood race. An energetic glaze envelopes as the singing stings, and the music liquifies. Steady beats rattle as keys glimmer, some final shots hit flesh, and the final notes mix into closer “Farm Cat, Watching.” This is a fitting outro built with circulating keys, psychedelic strangeness dripping, and eerie sentiments melting into time.

Wasluck pours a lot of himself into “It’s Closeness, It’s Easy,” a record that certainly pulls at me personally having experienced a lot of what is detailed here. But as usual, he leaves all of himself on display, an examination of what it means to get older, how we deal with loss, and how we keep track of our days. These times have their bright days and dark days as we feel ourselves transform yet again into what future awaits us.

For more on the band, go here: https://planningforburial.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://nowflensing.com/collections/planning-for-burial

For more on the label, go here: https://nowflensing.com/