Maybe it is singer Anthony Green's voice, falling somewhere in the range of prepubescent boy and pubescent boy playing with a helium tank. Maybe it is Circa Survive's partiality for inducing melodramatic sing-along choruses amidst a conversely avant-garde composition. Whatever the reason, the band's latest effort, Blue Sky Noise, sees the band intent on exhausting the theme of youthful inquiry.
Throughout the Philadelphia quintet's third LP, this theme is delivered with varying degrees of urgency. Strange Terrain sounds innocent and curious, like a toddler asking how babies are made. But the single Get Out has Green restively pleading for answers over an instrumental track that is equally as dire.
Truthfully, to sit around pondering Circa Survive's current pensive state would be a waste of time. People who want to listen to some really good singing don't throw on a Bob Dylan record. Circa Survive's real talent is demonstrated in their orchestration.
The band's whimsical style of songwriting negates the fact that their lyrics are often anything but poetry. Each track is an adventure for the ears. Melodies aren't played but slowly constructed in a seemingly arbitrary fashion. Each instrument is a small piece assembling the larger puzzle, and the vocals are far more necessary to this process than to any message delivery. The band's talent for composition is so broad that despite these perverse methods, it still manages to make each track moderately catchy to boot.
If you hear Circa Survive and decide that somewhat-inquisitive ramblings over entangled melodies are not for you, there's no need to worry. Circa Survive isn't hard to avoid.
The band is stuck in a scene in which it is destined to go unnoticed. Its touring is seldom more than small-scale ventures with other Vans Warped Tour participants. None of the summer's biggest festivals will see them perform. Few publications other than Alternative Press bother to do anything more than mention them.
If Circa Survive is your flavor, pick up those headphones; you'll enjoy Blue Sky Noise just fine. If not, don't feel guilty. You're just another listener who wouldn't have noticed them, anyway.
3 Culture
Andy Collier
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