unbarred.co.uk
11th september 2001
london betsey trotwood
nick brown

It's wonderful going to a gig when you know nothing about who you're going to see. There's no expectation, no preconceptions, nothing to get in the way of the music. Most of the time, what you end up with is a load of rubbish. But every now and again, you see something a bit special.

A tiny room above a pub in Farringdon was a somewhat odd setting to hear Tears in X-Ray Eyes (aka Tim Closs). He's been compared to Badly Drawn Boy and Morrissey, and it's easy to see where the comparisons come from. He has the same sense of lo-fi adventure which made 'The Hour of Bewilderbeest' such a joy, and his tales of doomed romance and epic failure are straight from the Stephen Patrick Morrissey song book.

But I have to say there was a lot more to him than that. 'Don't crush the one you love' was really quite wonderful - heartbreaking lyrics sung by a singular voice, with a simple but very effective melody underpinning the whole thing. Last single 'Open Wide' was equally memorable, the basic beats allowing his voice to soar. Whilst the playing and singing was good, it was the quality of the songs that really stood out - almost every one had a memorable tune, and each broke your heart in its own way.

If you ever get the chance to see Tears in X-Ray Eyes perform, take it - if he carries on like this, I don't think he'll be playing in front of 30 people for long.

icon fanzine
issue 11
london betsey trotwood

I bet you've never heard of Tears In X-Ray Eyes. With the NME telling its readers there are only two (American) bands they need to concern themselves with, the consequences for our homegrown bands is this; one of the best new bands in Britain is playing to an almost empty room. The Betsey Trotwood is a newly-established venue in Farringdon with a downstairs bar full of city workers. The tiny upstairs room is impossible to get in for the support act, Woodchuck (Johnny X from Kenicke's new band). However for tonight's main act, only twenty or so people remain, all standing as near to the walls and as far away from the performance area as possible. Tears In X-Ray Eyes are in fact just one young guy, Tim Closs. He looks somewhat exposed and vulnerable sitting amongst his instruments and tape recorder but he has the confidence to pull it off.

As the band name suggest there is an 80's sci-fi influence. As with The Smiths and Suede, X-Ray Eyes are bedsit obsessives who live in 'rented rooms' and want to 'drown suburbia'. Tim professes to be North London's answer to Scott Walker but the vocals are more like Brett Anderson at his most introspective and tremulous (ie. the last tracks on Dog Man Star). The titles of the songs sum up the band's romance-drenched melancholy-tinged oeuvre; 'Nature's Valentines', 'Don't Crush The One You Love' and 'Keep Us Together'. The songs are from the recently released album 'Half-Life'. The intimate location is perfect for this intensely personal one-man show, although the stage set-up would probably need fleshing out for a larger venue. Kate Moss is unlikely to be at the next X-Ray gig and they're unlikely to be in the Sun's bizarre column but that's just two more reasons why you should be there.

nme live
10th february 2001
london wc2 12 bar club
jim alexander

It's an awfully big name for just one bloke. Because, dividing his time between an acoustic guitar and a keyboard, with a tape machine whirring behind him, Tears In X-Ray Eyes' debut gig reveals that it's just Tim Closs.

Fresh from a London bedsit, with only a white vinyl single heralding its arrival, it's also music that's as redolent of unclean sheets and torrid unwanted loves as anything by The Smiths. Appropriately then, that band's influence hangs heavy over single 'Stained Glass' and 'Don't Crush The One You Love' with tremulously struck chords, and moments of lovelorn lyrical sharpness not heard since Morrissey took a sharp right turn into irrelevancy.

All of which could make this pigeon-chested weedy, but instead translates into something easily charming. Certainly Closs looks, and occassionally sounds, like Hefner could beat him up in the playground for his dinner money, but even when his one-man operation is anathema to anyone living in the age of amplification, there's plenty else going on. It's mainly thanks to that reel-to-reel backing tape too, which on 'Keep Us Together' and 'Open Wide' adds lo-fi Badly Drawn Boy beats to lift things far above the lone, unrequited boy norm.

Closs has created something that, while still in its infancy, is vulnerable and passionate, heartfelt and cynical. An unwieldy name, then, but also one worth checking out.