Music
Album of the Week
Album of the Week: Circa Waves
Exploring Circa Waves third album, What's It Like Over There?
Liverpudlian four-piece Circa Waves have returned with third studio album What’s It Like Over There?
Perhaps their most experimental to date, the band have embarked on a slightly new direction, introducing lots of distinctly different sounds to this release. Regularly swapping their instruments, bassist Sam Rouke had to learn how to play the piano to play some of their new tracks live.
Produced by Alan Moulder (Foals, The Killers) – who also produced Different Creatures – What’s It Like Over There? was written in America while on tour and recorded in Liverpool. Acting as a clear bid for the big leagues – the diverse sounds show just how much Circa Waves deserve their successes. The record feels mature, like they’ve finally arrived at the place they wanted.
Circa Waves are nothing if not genre-defying – easily walking the line between upbeat indie-pop, like on their 2015 debut Young Chasers and their darker sophomore effort Different Creatures (2017) their third album is no exception.
The quartet added drum samples, piano parts and synths into the mix which is highlighted on piano-led track Passport, which wouldn’t feel out of place on a Ricky Gervais TV comedy.
Sorry I’m Yours is grungy and bass-heavy, while Me Myself and Hollywood is something of a departure from the norm for long-time fans, pulsing with drums as sultry indie vocals slink over the top. Movies and The Way We Say Goodbye are starkly different from each other, and yet both hit new heights on the ‘epic pop-anthem’ scale, contrasting with the raucous guitars and thunderous drums of Be Somebody Good.
The jangly honky-tonk piano of Times Won’t Change Me could belong on an early Scissor Sisters record, while Saviour was made to echo out over a sold-out stadium.
While the changes in sound are obvious, What’s it like over there? is as versatile as it is self-reflective. An adventure across genres from commercial indie pop to Led Zeppelin-inspired rock bangers and electronic synth vibes – the band displays a kind of freedom that puts them well on their way to world domination.
Catch Circa Waves when they hit the road later this month with a string of UK dates, plus a host of festival appearances in June and July 2019. [Find Tickets]
Tracklisting:
1. What’s It Like Over There?
2. Sorry I’m Yours
3. Times Won’t Change Me
4. Movies
5. Me, Myself and Hollywood
6. The Way We Say Goodbye
7. Be Somebody Good
8. Passport
9. Motorcade
10. Saviour
Listen to What’s It Like Over There? on Spotify:
