Peter Hook’s tumbling bass is grumbling against the forthcoming whistle of the main wave of synth

Regardless of your knowledge of Ian Curtis’s deeply dissected personal life, Joy Division’s posthumous single ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ is a cult classic. Forty years on and in the true style of British post-punk, the song still raises that burning question, what is left to do? It’s that raw uncertainty to the track echoed in the intensity of Curtis’s vocals that give this single its cold glow. Yet there’s a truthful assurance behind it all, as it stands as an upset manifesto that swims between the end of a band’s era and a tribute to the raw authenticity of Ian Curtis as an artist, and a human being. But Curtis doesn’t stand alone here. Behind ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart”s cathartic nature, Peter Hook’s tumbling bass is grumbling against the forthcoming whistle of the main wave of synth in a way that is hauntingly enigmatic. There’s an innate beauty to this, as the song is picked up in the snapping of Stephen Morris’s infectious drumbeat. The track lights up amidst tones of melancholy presented through a chorus that is memorable for its exposure to fragility and the deep resentment. All of this is felt in the lyrics for an experience which sounds seamlessly ethereal.

However, while the vigour of the instrumentals may seem classic now, it was not originally seen this way. In fact, the track was reworked twice in the studio, by producer Martin Hannett. So, across its final sound and initial creation, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ tells us about a labour of love expressed through its silvery sounds of uncertainty. It emulates sounds of honesty and creativity, something that doesn’t give us answers to the lyrical woes or the resentful sound of the opening guitar chords. Instead it is unashamedly truthful in its expression, and so leaves Joy Division as a band remembered for throwing all façade out of the window.