Close To Monday share new single ‘Breakdown Simulations’

Close to Monday return with a retro-futurist shimmer on “Breakdown Simulations,” a track that leans into analog grit while bathing everything in a dreamy, slow-burn glow. The production feels like a lost broadcast from the dawn of electro-pop—warm, grainy, and hypnotic—yet there’s this bold, modern edge cutting through the haze. Their vocalist floats just above the mix, a soft but steady guide through the collision of colours and textures, giving the whole piece a sort of intimate vastness.

What really hits is the tension they build between motion and stillness. Those cascading synths set a pace that almost feels urgent, city-at-night urgent, but the vocal keeps pulling things back to something more human and thoughtful. There’s a trip-hop smokiness here—think early Portishead shadows—but the production fires everything forward, never letting the nostalgia settle into imitation. Instead, you get a sense of widescreen electronic rock, polished yet still pulsing with raw feeling, the narrative unfolding like a coded message you’re meant to unspool slowly.

By the time the chorus settles in, the blend of melancholy and uplift lands with a quiet precision. The melody moves with a kind of hopeful ache—bittersweet but addictive—and the band make it all feel remarkably seamless. As introductions go, “Breakdown Simulations” is the kind of cut that sketches out a whole universe in under four minutes: stylish, evocative, and unmistakably their own. It’s a compelling signal flare from Close to Monday, hinting at even bigger, stranger, more beautiful things ahead.

Stream it now: