"Isolation" is a song by English rock band Joy Division. It appears on their second and final album '' Closer''. The song is based on an electronic drum beat by Stephen Morris, accompanied by a thin, trebly keyboard part by

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, and Electronic. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the po ...

. Midway through the song, a rushing drum and hi-hat motif come in, propelling the song toward its dramatic end.

Composition

"Isolation" is a song which contains elements of synth-pop and

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

that lasts for a duration of two minutes and fifty-two seconds. According to the

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, A ...

published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, it is written in the

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western culture, Western musical notation to specify how many beat (music), beats (pulses) are contained in each measu ...

of common time, with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 148 beats per minute. "Isolation" is played in the key of C major, while Ian Curtis's

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of st ...

spans one octave, from the low-note of B₃ to the high-note of B₄. The song has a basic sequence of G–F–G in the verses, changes to B–A–G–F–G at the chorus and follows G–F–G–G–G during the outro as its chord progression. The song harbors atypical song structure and vocal delivery. Its musical arrangement employs a false ending where the band abruptly ceases, only for the recording to suddenly return with noisy

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

of a snippet before coming to a blunt end. "Isolation" is built on harsh electronic drums and a rolling, stabbing bassline. In place of a guitar melody, a cascading high-pitched synth line runs throughout the entire composition as its driving instrument. Curtis sings poetic lyrics that illustrate an abstract portrait of the titular subject. According to critic Ned Raggett, the "chilling" vocal lines express a sense of a connection and yearning after the impossible: "But if you could just see the beauty, these things I could never describe." Bassist Peter Hook said the ending came as the

serendipitous Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. Etymology The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. I ...

result of Martin Hannett's efforts to rescue the original master tape from a botched edit by a junior sound engineer.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

's Ned Raggett complimented "Isolation," writing, "the song structure and delivery is all Joy Division and as such makes the song an intriguing twist on a style and a highlight of the excellent '' Closer'' album."

Personnel

* Ian Curtis - lead vocals *

- synthesizer * Peter Hook - bass guitar * Stephen Morris - electronic drums

Covers

The song has been covered many times, including vesrions by: * New Order played an electronic-based cover in a Peel Session in 1998, released in the In Session compilation (2004). *Northern Irish

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

band Therapy? covered the song on their 1994 album ''

Troublegum ''Troublegum'' is the second major label album by rock band Therapy? It was released on 7 February 1994 via A&M Records. The album features a more punk-oriented style compared to the likes of Stiff Little Fingers and the Undertones rather the ba ...

''. This version also incorporates elements from Atrocity Exhibition. *In 1995, a cover by

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chambe ...

spin-off band

Starchildren Starchildren was a side project of The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. From 1990 to 1994 the band played a few scattered live shows, each usually featuring a different lineup of band members with only Corgan having constant involvemen ...

appeared on the tribute album '' A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division''. *Industrial band

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Ro� ...

released the Al Jourgensen produced 12" single in late 1988. *April 26, 2020, Canadian rock band The Tea Party released a newly recorded cover to coincide with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

and the isolation orders that much of the world is under to stop the spread of the virus. *May 18, 2020, Mark Lanegan and Cold Cave release their cover of the song.

References

Sources

* Curtis, Deborah. "Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division". London: Faber and Faber, 2005. * Hook, Peter. "Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division". London: Simon & Schuster, 2012. * Bernard, Sumner. "Chapter and Verse - New Order, Joy Division and Me". Corgi, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Isolation (Joy Division Song) 1980 songs Joy Division songs Songs about loneliness Songs written by Bernard Sumner Songs written by Peter Hook Songs written by Stephen Morris (musician) Songs written by Ian Curtis