CLOSE

House music DJ, producer, and label head Will Saul began working with a growing circle of collaborators and decided the resulting tracks felt more suited to albums than to his typical 12-inch releases, prompting him to adopt the alias Close as a way to keep the two strands distinct. London-based Saul had been employed in Sony’s A&R division until 2003, when he resigned and co-founded the house label Simple alongside associates. The roster quickly welcomed contributions from Ian Pooley, Mathew Jonson, Carl Craig, and numerous additional house and techno figures in both original productions and remixes, while Saul himself issued a steady run of 12-inch singles on the imprint under his own name. Because Simple remained focused on single-sided releases, he placed the Close project with Studio K7 in 2012. Its first full-length, Getting Closer, appeared the following year and was promoted through a European tour that featured drummer/producer Al Tourettes as a member of the live band.