This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Dream-pop darlings Luna have been playing with fire lately.
Their latest album Romantica had a picture of a lighter on the cover. And their EP Close Cover Before Striking looks like a book of matches. Clever marketing? Sure. But it also makes a bit of sense on the artistic level. The seven-track Close Cover — supposedly recorded fairly quickly during a tour break last summer — is a more informal, intimate and low-tech cousin to its predecessor. Along with plenty of the lush, Velvet Undergound-inspired narco-pop that is singer-guitarist Dean Wareham’s trademark, you also get the comparatively spry and rocking Astronaut and a languid, shamblingly faithful cover of The Rolling Stones’ Waiting On A Friend. Next to the gorgeous bonfire of Romantica, this is a lovely little candle of a disc that produces a nice, gentle glow.
