Closebye Return with Two Self-Produced Tracks, ‘No Troubles Left At All’ & ‘Ann Arbor’

New York’s Closebye caught wider attention in 2024 with their self-released sophomore album, Hammer Of My Own. They return now not with a full-length follow-up, but with something that feels more immediate: two new tracks, “No Troubles Left At All” and “Ann Arbor,” released as an A/B single and marking their first work as self-producers.

The songs arrived from a place of creative restlessness. After spending over a year finishing their next album, the band had stepped back from the studio. Jonah Smith describes a sudden burst of energy that kept him up until morning, writing and recording the demo for “No Troubles Left At All” in one session. The band set a tight deadline to finish and release it, a departure from their previous process. “Ann Arbor” came from the same headspace, making a single release the logical format. Working without an outside producer for the first time shifted the dynamic; every member had an equal role in shaping the arrangements, with Tyler Postiglione at Thump Recording brought in to help push the tracks further during mixing.

The buoyancy in “No Troubles Left At All” is undercut by weight. Smith grounds the song in his first year of sobriety, writing about reaching steadier ground both personally and within a relationship. What could scan as simple optimism sounds more like earned relief—an acknowledgment of what it took to get somewhere that finally feels good. The video, directed by bassist Margaux Bouchegnies, reinforces the band’s internal creative circuit.

The two tracks don’t signal a full pivot, but they do suggest a band comfortable operating outside its own plans. That might be as useful as the finished album waiting behind them.