Throughout musical history, EPs are typically seen at the beginning of a career. In the event you’re some ungodly multi-rock hall of fame-inductee, you probably have box sets of EPs releasing long after you last picked up an instrument.

For Braid, this isn’t the case.

A career spanning nearly two decades has come to this: a four track EP of overwhelming significance which is on deck to release. This is the point where you say Well Greg, almost everyone in the band has branched into side projects, and well, let’s face it Lucky to Be Alive wasn’t the most impactful album.

If you branch out to other projects, call it quits because you can’t stand being together anymore, or simply because the music scene has evolved past your accustomed sound, you can still make Closer to Closed. I believe nothing better could have come to the four from Champaign, Illinois.

Carrying with them the roots which run deep into the emo-alt-rock styles, Braid has regrouped and compiled a taste of what they accomplished a while ago. An apparent cry to their passion, growth, and ultimate demise, Closer to Closed makes a statement to their longevity. Four tracks titled “The Right Time,” “Do Over,” “You Are the Reason,” and “Universe or Worse.”

Superficially love songs, it doesn’t take much to recognize the theme throughout. “The Right Time” pulls in the mid/late 90’s alt rock instrumentals over lyrics “Even though we tried before/ We couldn’t see it through” and “We don’t have to be together/ We don’t have to love each other forever/ All you have to do is take me with you.” Then “Do Over” opens immediately with Bob Nanna singing “Wouldn’t mind a second try” to go on to account a struggle of dreams against will. Symbolically, “Universe or Worse” drifts into a drum and simple guitar riff that keeps going and going. When you think it’s going to end, it continues on.

Though only an EP, Closer to Closed is a passionate alt-rock album filled with enough stored aptitude to fill multiple albums. There seems to be a lot that had built up over the years that these guys still want to say Whether swan song or reemergence, Braid has reached back to the fundamentals and seems to have found what once made them a band.

Braid – The Right Time by Polyvinyl Records