Atmosphere - Joy Division - Bass cover

It was originally released in March 1980 by the Sordide Sentimental label as the Licht und Blindheit (German for Light and Blindness) package, a France-only limited edition single featuring the track Dead Souls as the B-side. Following Ian Curtis's death in May, it was re-released as a 12" single by Factory Records in August with She's Lost Control as the B-side.

The single was re-released in 1988 to coincide with the release of the compilation album Substance, and a music video was produced for the song.

Joy Division had written an early version of this song called Chance which they recorded for a Manchester radio session in June 1979. They later recorded the final version of Atmosphere in October 1979 with Martin Hannett at Cargo Studio in Rochdale. The Keyboard used in the chorus was a Woolworth’s Winfield brown Bakelite plastic reed organ.

A music video was released for the song with the single's re-release in 1988. It contains characters wearing black-hooded cloaks and white burial shrouds carrying around large pictures of the band. It was directed by Anton Corbijn (responsible for much of the early Joy Division photography, and who later directed the Ian Curtis biopic Control).

Walk in silence,
Don’t walk away, in silence.
See the danger,
Always danger,
Endless talking,
Life rebuilding,
Don’t walk away.
Walk in silence,
Don’t turn away, in silence.
Your confusion,
My illusion,
Worn like a mask of self-hate,
Confronts and then dies.
Don’t walk away.
People like you find it easy,
Naked to see,
Walking on air.
Hunting by the rivers,
Through the streets,
Every corner abandoned too soon,
Set down with due care.
Don’t walk away, in silence,
Don’t walk away

Ian Curtis - vocals, guitar
Peter Hook - bass
Bernard Sumner - guitars, synthesizers
Stephen Morris - drums

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