Circus Mind is one of those musical acts reminding you of the acoustic nature of the art form, coupled with the genuine talent and mastery of pioneers in the pop cultural pantheons not being dead yet. They’ve hit a homerun with the release of their new single, Melt Away, a sort of caustic ode to the current state of affairs of the world today. Circus Mind always has had its finger on the pulse of current eve
They communicate key concepts effortlessly, making the whole listening experience entertaining without being high-handed, nor indebted to shallow, vapid lyrics solely revolving around extreme hedonism. Melt Away is sort of a scathing indictment on what they see as contemporary social decay, following beats and precisions evident in Circus Mind’s inspirational time period of the seventies.
Seventies music always epitomized being something of a looking glass into issues at hand, then the cold war, Vietnam, the sexual revolution, and questioning polite society at large. There was something anarchic about groups and acts like The Doors, The Band, Cat Stevens, The Rolling Stones, and more. Circus Mind clearly wants to reinvent that for a modern audience, and oddly enough in doing so doesn’t have to do much in revitalizing that spark of ingenuity. It’s already such a contrast to what makes up the Top 40s today.
In interview with IMPOSE Magazine, Circus Mind frontman Mark Rechler characterizes New Orleans as the prime breeding ground for the band’s schtick. “I am a longtime New Orleans Lover,” he said at the time. “I went to Tulane, studied architecture, art and music. The city is incredible and has the best food, parties, art and music. It’s a rich gumbo of culture. It’s like no other city in the U.S. so I’ve been a regular there and go a few times a year. We have made friends in the city, musicians and otherwise. Jazzfest is our favorite time of year, simply the best festival on so many levels and I go to it a ton. In fact, this would have been my 30th year, so I thought I would write a song to celebrate that. In NoLA there are lots of theme songs; Mardi Gras Songs, NoLA Songs and general popular funk tunes so I was going for that classic sound and imagining that this was gonna be a classic NoLA tune one day.”
That reverence shows in every track Circus Mind has pioneered over the years. They’re able to understand the beats and expectations the average listener today requires of popular music. Yet they also take risks, starting with the narrative-like nature of the lyrics. There’s nothing spoon-fed or simple about a Circus Mind song. Pay close attention and the smart writing shimmers as brightly as the song’s superb sound mixing and strong, assertive instrumentation.
As someone unfamiliar with Circus Mind until the release of their new single today, count me as a fan. Like any great musical act, Circus Mind was able to give me something I didn’t know was missing. The result is something that wins, both because of quality and because of that unique sense of vision that while commercially viable is as anti-corporate as you can get.
Chadwick Easton