After 25 years, we have decided to record and release our own version of a popular classic by The Carpenters composed by Burt Bacharach.

Here’s a trivia: During the formation of Orange & Lemons in July 1999, I had the opportunity to rework on existing original songs like She’s Leaving Home, Isang Gabi and Just Like A Splendid Love Song, arranging them in what would become the signature sound of the band with clean electro-acoustic jangly guitars inspired by The Smiths and other Jangle Pop, classic Indie Pop and New Wave bands we love. We were regularly gigging as a cover band playing 80s guitar pop and The Beatles. I don’t remember what prompted me to arrange Close To You, but it was one of my fave from The Carpenters, so we tried jamming it while injecting our own sound. The result is what you hear on the record less the keyboards. It became a staple on our set list for decades.

We haven’t released new music since La Bulaqueña album dropped in 2022 owed to the fact that we became busy with gigs and personal lives. (Although it is not really an excuse not to make music.) So during the middle of 2024, we added a new studio album in our goal for 2025. To break the silence while we are busy writing new materials, we decided to record our version of Close To You with the help of Bryan Lotho (who also help produce La Bulaqueña) to track the vocals and guitars and Dave Cruz (our resident sound engineer) to track the drums.

We were supposed to release Close To You in December 2024, but it took us a while to get the necessary licenses from publishers. This is the first time we produced a foreign song cover on our own and it was a learning process. The delay turned out for the best and we were able to release it on Valentine’s Day under Lilystars Records. We dearly hope this track will help brighten your day! – Clem Castro

If you haven’t done so, you can stream Close To You on your preferred music sites here:

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A few days before the release, we visited Dal’s Farm in Floridablanca, Pampanga to shoot some footages for a lyric video and this was the result:

Many thanks to Leo Avendano (videography), Maky Salamat (photography) and Leone Aquilman (editor/colorist) for the output.