Seattle Artists Close Encounter have released a new single on December 8 this year.

I encountered Close Encounter for the first time recently when my friend Ryan Norwine was filling in for their bassist at a small house-party gig. I went into the experience not expecting too much. I had heard some of their previous recorded material, and I appreciated it, but I never really latched on to it. I left the place having had an amazing experience with music that absolutely blew me away. With Bill Darksoft on vocals and lead guitar, Bobby Sydney on vocals keys and rhythm guitar, and Cameron Lambert on drums, the group filled the room with noises that deeply pleased my ears and my soul.

The new single is called ‘Tuff Time’, and starts with just a very reverb-heavy guitar lead and some nice soft palm mutes on the rhythm. Following this, the bass enters with a really fitting bass line that isn’t very complicated, but is very very cool. As the song breaks into the verse, a very nice padded vocal comes in with a harmony that is barely perceptible, but it is there. With that, things become a little more fluid, less rhythmic. The lyrics speak of the reality of permanence, and seems to have an outlook of contentedness towards this reality, “what’s done is done”. After a couple of verses, the song segues into a very dreamy instrumental, with a similar tone, that seems to repeat a couple of times with little variations here and there, and then the song is over.

As for the production, the drums felt a little flat. The bass was plenty present, so that made up for what the drums seemed to lack, but at one point in the song when the drum track was left basically to itself, it felt very constricted. The guitars are very reverb and delay heavy, which makes sense for the feel of the song, and I think really added to the mood. The vocals are subtle but interesting, this song calls for a softer and less focused vocal line and they fill that role very well. At times the overall stereo mix seems to cave in on itself, becoming very centered causing everything to basically phase-cancel each other. Whether or not it’s an effect I am unsure of but it takes some getting used to as it’s a little nauseating.

Overall, ‘Tuff Time’ is a satisfying track, and is a great song to listen to if you just want to chill out. The performances are really tight by all of the musicians involved, though Sydney’s vocals during the verses are a little off at points, it kind of plays to the song anyways.