Circa Survive Band • Page 68

on the right day "Bird Sounds" is one of my favourite things by like anyone, ever

 

Wild to me how Bird Sounds dated all the way back to the OLG days. I think it’s cool that this band will always revisit old ideas for new albums. I’m sure a lot of bands/artists do, but I like how transparent this band is about that kind of stuff

 

I think I like Violent Waves more than most people around here. I’d put it above Descensus.

 

I'll see you in the fucking chat

 

def better than descensus

 

Are you all suffering from delirium induced by quarantine?

Economic Hitman? The Lottery???? My Only Friend??????????????? Bird fucking SOUNDS I’m actually mad let me go to bed.

 

I don't care for The Lottery like most seem to, but I'll go to bat for Hitman, Bird Sounds and I'll Find a Way.

 

elaborate

 

Lowkey I think VW might have the best production, but the band was in a bad place on that album and I think you can hear that in the songs a lot of the time. That sounds odd, but they just sound... uninspired, indifferent a lot of the times. The Lottery slaps though.

 

It just doesn't flow well as an album. Many songs I'm happy to return to anytime, but you won't ever catch me listening to the full thing when I can just put on any other album instead.

 

I have never really been a fan of the production on Violent Waves. Always felt strange and off to me. I really think their best album, production wise, is between Juturna, On Letting Go, and The Amulet.

 

Amulet does it for me as the best combo of songs/production. Yip really nailed it there. McTernan's production on Juturna and OLG wears a little after a while. BSN was a good change of pace, I remember everyone being pretty excited they weren't using McTernan again.

 

Yeah McTernan is just whatever to me. I don't think he really adds much to the records he's worked on and I'm not much of a fan of other albums I've listened to that he was involved with. I think Juturna and On Letting Go are some of his better work and, even then, I still feel the way I stated above.

I hate the production on Blue Sky Noise. It is just so loud, it's overkill. I don't like hearing the obvious clipping at times throughout the album (as well as on Appendage) because it was mixed so loud. The remaster didn't really solve those issues for me either.

I feel a little similarly about Descensus. I think that album is a bit loud at times, but also sounds really thin. I think the songwriting on that album is really strong and those songs pack a punch, but I think they're held back by the production at times. That album should sound bigger, but not louder, than it is.

I think Will Yip and the band struck a sweet spot with The Amulet. Perhaps it's because of the more reserved and atmospheric songwriting, but I've never felt like I needed to turn the music down because it was actively hurting my ears (like with BSN and Descensus). Even on the more in-your-face songs like Never Tell A Soul, Stay, and Rites Of Investiture, I think everything sits nicely in the mix. The atmosphere is pleasant and I love the tones the band got out of that album, particularly for the drums and bass.

If Circa does work with Yip for their next record, which I fully expect them to do, I hope Yip can continue to do good work with them. He's gotten a lot better over the last few years or so. I think he was much more hit or miss earlier on in his career.

 

Juturna is the least bad production they've managed, sad to say. It's prob the only record I don't feel production noticeably detracts from any songs.

 

I agree with McTernan, even though he's produced some of my favorite albums (OLG, Gospel by Fireworks, Separation by Balance and Composure).

I think Yip's loud style worked really well for the more emo/post-hardcore style of Balance and Composure, Title Fight, Pianos Become the Teeth, but on Descensus it didn't allow the atmosphere to shine like it needed to. Very loud, treble heavy.

 

It's funny you mention Separation by B&C because, for a while, I couldn't tell that there were three guitarists in the band when listening to that record.

 

Ive always felt the production on Juturna was fantastic

idk if I’m crazy or super biased bc I like the album so much or what

that album breathes to me. it couldn’t have been easy to capture it the way it was - urgent but ambient. I love all the production flourishes too. there’s a bunch of reverse guitar lines, piano overtones, electric organs, house of leaves is a masterpiece of a production, and Anthony objectively sounds the best he has ever sounded on it.

 

Violent Waves actually flows better than Decensus and Amulet for me, personally.

The album has a little melody throughout that is on 1 or 2 songs..It's the one at the very end of the album. I love shit like that.

EDIT: Its at the end of Brother Song and the end of I'll Find A Way.

 

Bird Sounds is a great song, 10000%. I also love Think Of Me When They Sound a lot too. They're really great songs, and certainly not average songs to me.

But like I said, its all the other songs that are less than average to my ears. I wish I liked them, but there's something about them that I find absolutely nothing to like in. Not sure if anyone more musically inclined can tell me why they might be different to other album songs. The only way I can explain it is that most songs on the album just sound like one long bridge. It all just feels a bit dissonant, and completely uninspired.

Not trying to provoke any opinion here btw. I know a lot of people think the opposite of everything I'm saying, but I'm a huuge Circa fan, and Violent Waves is the one dud for me.

 

I think a lot of the songs just sort of plod along, or they don't really explore new territory. Like, Sharp Practice was cool at first, but I think it's a really run-of-the-mill Circa song. I feel the same way about Suitcase and Brother Song as well. Phantasmagoria is a weird one. Some songs don't have the great hooks present on previous albums. I think there are a handful of reasons that people could give you and I think they're all valid.

Ultimately, I think it has their weakest songwriting overall. I think there are a lot of great ideas throughout the album, but there are not a lot of great songs. It just feels like an album where I ask myself "Why would I listen to Violent Waves when I could just listen to (insert album here)?"

 

I think the front half of the album is as strong as anything else they’ve done. There’s some stuff towards the middle and end that I’m not quite as thrilled about

 

I remember this always being the number one complaint since the album came out. I remember a lot of people on AP or on Circa's own forum page saying stuff like "The first four songs are great and then rest of the album...not so much."

 

I really really really loved VW when it first released because it felt like such a breath of fresh air and tensions release following BSN. They had the guts to let anthony's vocals sit MUCH farther down in the mix and just overall turned down the bombastic/explosive sheen of the first 3 albums. Ultimately I guess I still think it was an important and necessary album for their progression and there were definitely some bold new directions in song structure going on (my only friend, the lottery, hitman), but I just don't want to listen to it as much as I did. Descensus and The amulet have really overshadowed it and my perception of the whole VW cycle has really shifted.

I swear thogh that some of the best times I ever saw them live were between 2011-2014, despite what I now know about the band's personal circumstances. For instance, the VW tour saw them perform a different setlist EVERY NIGHT, PERFEORMING NEARLY THEIR ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY INCLUDING B-SIDES AND RARITIES. That tour fucking slapped. They played House of Leaves and Suspending Disbelief at a CT show.

I'll Find a Way and Bird Sounds are the main juice of this album for me now.

 

I do remember Anthony saying that he wanted his vocals on Violent Waves to be much closer to how he performs live as opposed to how they were before, particularly on Blue Sky Noise. Obviously, that trend has continued as they have continued to work with Yip.

 

Tracks 7-10 of VW is my favorite run of Circa songs. It's a weird vulnerable space I don't think is anywhere else on their albums. Shout out to "The Lottery" too. Lyrics hit me hard on that one.