Not long after delivering their 2012 magnum opus
Kill for Love, the eternally enigmatic
Chromatics announced its follow up, a monolithic and shadowy collection called Dear Tommy. Track listings and album art were shared as early as 2014 for Dear Tommy, which would be the band's fifth proper album, and their producer
Johnny Jewel leaked songs online and discussed the album in interviews as if it were just around the corner. Fast forward to 2019, and Dear Tommy had yet to materialize when new full-length
Closer to Grey arrived without notice in early October. Brandishing the Roman numerals VII on the cover art,
Closer to Grey held strong in the assertion that it was the
Chromatics' seventh album, even as the elusive Dear Tommy waited in some foggy limbo.