Cold Cave – Love Comes Close

Love Comes Close is the debut full-length album by Cold Cave, released in November 2009. It builds on the synthpop and darkwave terrain of their prior EPs, immersing listeners in icy, atmospheric electronic landscapes, dramatic moody hooks and elegiac pop sensibility. The album balances stark, minimalist beats and moody textures with melodic clarity, highlighting Wesley Eisold’s deep baritone voice delivering lines of longing, detachment and romantic darkness.

Across tracks like “Cebe and Me,” “Love Comes Close,” and “Life Magazine,” the production shifts between sparse, cold pulses and richer sonic layering—sometimes embracing abrasive noise, other times leaning into chorused mystery. While the album is firmly rooted in homage to 1980s new wave and post-punk influences, it feels intentional in its darkness rather than derivative. The result is a work that thrives on tension, creating spaces where emotion resonates in the margins of silence and synthetic shimmer.

Reviews

“Moody synth-poppers from Philly … make an impressive full-length debut.” — Pitchfork

“[It’s] a world of hard electronic beats and anthemic, minor-key melodies … of feelings expressed in cryptic verse … a hard carapace that simultaneously reveals and protects the emotional vulnerability within.” — The Quietus

“Love Comes Close possesses a robust charm, born from layered, lyrical synth lines and hypnotic beats.” — The Line of Best Fit

“The whiff of dry ice may lurk perceptibly … but Love Comes Close is a cut above mere parody … Eisold’s pop sensibilities … his love of more melodious inspirations such as The Human League and (especially) New Order shines through.” — The Skinny

“The homogeneity and a dourness … a repetitiveness that saps … but elegant pop songs nonetheless.” — Drowned in Sound