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For whatever reason, my own tastes with regard to progressive rock lean heavily toward music coming out of the UK. Given the choice between, say, Genesis and Kansas, I\u2019ll always opt for the British group. There are occasional exceptions: the work of Spock\u2019s Beard \u2013 especially the Nick D\u2019Virgilio era \u2013 is some amazing stuff. And these days, King Crimson is nearly as American as it is British. But my preference remains.<\/p>\n
Yet I am open-minded. So I\u2019m intrigued when I receive a new audiovisual set (CD+DVD+Blu-Ray) called Cicruline: New View<\/i>. It\u2019s a document of a live set from New York progressive outfit Circuline. The band crafts tuneful music that is rooted both in melodic, accessible \u201cclassic\u201d rock styles and a more ambitious, keyboard-centric progressive mindset.<\/p>\n
A track like \u201cOne Wish\u201d gets underway with a mid-tempo melody, sparkling piano from founding member Andrew Colyer, and Natalie Brown\u2019s pretty, expressive vocals. But just when you think you\u2019ve sorted out what the tune is about, it takes a hard left turn into heavy riffage and progressive stylings. It\u2019 never rivals Porcupine Tree\u2019s \u201cArriving Somewhere But Not Here,\u201d but \u201cOne Wish\u201d has a similarly diverse approach, and it\u2019s a successful execution of that varied musical outlook.<\/p>\n
Still, some of the musical elements feel odd and ill-fitting. The bass through a wah-wah (or envelope follower) of \u201cNautilus\u201d is a bit goofy, and the song\u2019s massed shout of \u201cHey!\u201d feels more like a parody of arena rock. Yet the tune itself is interesting. And there\u2019s a tune here that\u2019s actually titled \u201cPiano Challenge.\u201d It\u2019s the kind of thing that leaves prog open to charges of being pretentious, even though sections of it sound more like Styx than Keith Emerson.<\/p>\n
Prog fans whose tastes lean toward the heaving, guitar-based stuff may find that there\u2019s more piano here than they might like, but the musical pyrotechnics of numbers like \u201cHollow\u201d are nothing short of breathtaking.<\/p>\n
One track includes something called \u201cDrum Feature,\u201d but it\u2019s one of the least remarkable \u201cdrum solos\u201d I\u2019ve ever heard. There\u2019s nothing wrong with it, exactly. But it\u2019s far from memorable. Yet it\u2019s offset by the semi-epic \u201cSummit,\u201d eleven minutes of songs, solos and musical contrasts. \u201cSummit\u201d never reaches the heights (oof) of the most timeless progressive music, but it\u2019s intriguing nonetheless.<\/p>\n
The songs don\u2019t really linger in the memory after they pass: for all their excitement and energy, Circuline doesn\u2019t display a facility for crafting strong, durable hooks. Circulive: New View<\/i> is good for what it is, but a spin of the CD is most likely to what the listener\u2019s appetite for something more substantial and satisfying.<\/p>\n
Still, taken as a whole, Circulive<\/i> underscores the reality that there\u2019s a healthy and thriving progressive (or progressively-inclined) scene in the United States, and Circuline is at its center. As progressive rock, 2020 edition goes, Circulive: New View<\/i> is far from an embarrassment. The textures of mainstream rock are there, and the instrumental virtuosity and compositional ambition are worthy of praise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For whatever reason, my own tastes with regard to progressive rock lean heavily toward music coming out of the UK. Given the choice between, say, Genesis and Kansas, I\u2019ll always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,49,56,62,65],"tags":[4341],"class_list":["post-19854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvd","category-new-release","category-prog","category-rawk","category-review","tag-circuline","cat-25-id","cat-49-id","cat-56-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19856,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19854\/revisions\/19856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}