Other Reviews

09/07/2009

Thought Becomes Reality

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Circulus

Circulus make me want to take my clothes off. Not in a do a streak across the centre court at Wimbledon way, no, that wouldn't do at all. No, it's in the stripping away all the clutter and burden of modern life sense, I would of course then don the gold lamé jump suit or suit of armour that Michael Tyack, the funky medieval main-man of Circulus, demanded of me and board the good ship Circulus for a voyage amongst the glittering orbs of outer space...

Before you roll your eyes and wander off, consider this; have you looked to the skies lately? Not just at the moon and stars, but at the spaces between them. The cold silent unfathomable void between the stars. Is there anything out there in the vastness of space looking back at you? That's what Michael Tyack has been doing, and the void spoke unto him...

Hence we have the third Circulus album, Thought Becomes Reality, and it throws a teeny dose of psychedelic space rock into the bubbling witches brew of medieval pomp that we know and love. The line-up has changed slightly, most noticeably in the departure of the distinctive voice of Lo Polidoro, however the addition of Holly-Jane Shears and the 'Circulus Ladies Choir' more than makes up for her absence. Within You Is The Sun being a dreamy highlight.

Thought Becomes Reality is every bit as idiosyncratic, challenging and absorbing as their previous two albums, significantly it is also much more accessible, as long as you like a crumhorn or two of course. in fact a love of early music is the foundation of Circulus, as whimsical as they may seem to some, at heart they really are medieval rockers.

Arrangements of Tristans Lament, Sumer is icumen In, Kalenda Maya and Packingtons Pound are amongst the very best music they have ever produced, Packingtons Pound is particularly fine, early woodwind and electric guitars really do get on rather well with each other. The sometimes jarring mixture and juxtaposition of styles on past work is here more finely controlled and balanced throughout the album.

Thought Becomes Reality is the best Circulus album yet, more focused yet still having the controls set for the heart of weird, or should I say Wyrd* all the way. So go on, get your kit off.

Iain Hazlewood

*Wyrd is an old English word that refers to past actions continually affecting and shaping the future, and also how the future affects the past.

CIRCULUS PROFILE