- Release Info ————————————————————– -
 Artist:   Circa Survive
 Album:    Blue Sky Noise
 Label:    Atlantic Records
 Playtime:  49:38 min
 Genre:    Rock
 URL:     http://www.circasurvive.com
 Rip date:  2010-04-15
 Street date: 2010-04-20
 Size:    76.89 MB
 Type:    Normal
 Quality:   207 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ————————————————————- -
  ”How did you get so ungrateful, you treat me like I’m a disease… too much
  all at once, that’s how you got so ungrateful.”
  The problem with Circa Survive has never been with their music. They play
  their instruments competently and whether you like his tone or not, Anthony
  Green can sing. The problem is their lack of longevity. Debut album Juturna
  was good, but it only lasted for a few listens. An icon within the scene’s
  attempt to make progressive rock music was interesting, endearing even, but
  ultimately the album was swept into the undertow of dozens of other albums by
  bands who were better at making that sort of music from the start (Minus The
  Bear, The Mars Volta, et al). Juturna was weird, but not necessarily in a
  good way; it simply made the album sort of impenetrable but with none of the
  charm that makes music like that worth exploring. It was catchy, but apart
  from “Act Appalled,” the melodies were either too linear or too plain to
  warrant the listener singing along. On Letting Go, the band’s sophomore
  effort, was super catchy, but with all of the weirdness gone. Instead of
  expanding upon the aspect of their music that had the potential to make them
  unique, they abandoned it completely in favor of stronger melodies and
  improved singing from Green. But though the oddities were gone, the songs
  were there. The album showed a band who was marvelously with it, poised on
  the edge of…something. It wasn’t clear what cliff they were on, what
  awaited them at the bottom of the plunge. More popularity? A return to
  experimentation? The album was great, but the longevity still wasn’t there
  because it was missing something, something we all hoped they would find on
  their next album.
  And find it they did.
  The “it” in question isn’t something that can really be defined, and honestly
  it isn’t even the point. The point is that Circa Survive have done everything
  right on Blue Sky Noise. The sort of deft passion that they display here
  isn’t something that comes along very often for a band, yet here they are
  acting as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. It makes you wonder
  why they weren’t this good from the start, but the learning process they went
  through ends up making Blue Sky Noise all the more satisfying. With On
  Letting Go, for every jaw-dropping track like “Your Friends Are Gone,” there
  was a disappointingly bland song like “In The Morning And Amazing.” On
  Juturna, for every “Act Appalled” or “The Great Golden Baby,” there was,
  well, the rest of the album. The ridiculous potential that the band showed
  was almost torturous, and a bit scary too. The power that could have been in
  their music was palpable, but the band never threw open the floodgates and
  let it out, leaving us to wonder just how many amazing things they could do
  if they would. Maybe it was the three-year long writing process, or maybe
  Green was disgusted by how awful his old band Saosin have become and wanted
  to blow them out of the water, but Blue Sky Noise is a fantastic example of
  what a band can do if they learn from their mistakes, something most artists
  these days seem loathe to do.
  The most obvious (and appreciated) improvements come from the musicians. With
  their first two albums, Circa Survive were unfortunately faced with what I
  like to call “the Paramore dilemma” – basically, when one member of a band is
  instantly recognizable and garners all of the praise, whether they want to or
  not. When Anthony Green was in Saosin, they were poised to take over the
  burgeoning 2000s post hardcore scene, and rightfully so. But just as the hype
  for a Saosin full-length album started to reach a fever pitch, Green quit and
  formed Circa Survive. Oddly enough, the hype was transferred from Saosin to
  Circa Survive (which is a rare occurrence in and of itself), and in the wake
  of his departure, Anthony Green left Saosin to flounder and die.
  Unfortunately, by comparison, Circa Survive’s Juturna appeared rather tame
  despite its occasional flirting with weird textures, effects, and time
  signatures. In that case, the hype worked against them. And for the musicians
  who joined Green’s cause, because they didn’t play in nearly the same style
  as Saosin’s members, they were written off as boring. This wasn’t entirely
  unjustified though. They were good, but they had a long way to go. They shone
  in moments where the music was more energetic, and they seem to have realized
  this with Blue Sky Noise. Opener “Strange Terrain” is jaunty, bouncy, and the
  drums have improved a ridiculous amount. The main riff is catchy and a bit
  sugary, but not sickeningly so by any means, and the noises peppered here and
  there at certain points are tasteful and never feel out of place or overdone.
  The chorus, making amazing use of background melody, is pure Anthony Green,
  who certainly didn’t slack in the hooks department. On Letting Go’s “Living
  Together” was a fantastic opener, but “Strange Terrain” blows it out of the
  water. And it’s only a small taste of what’s to come on the rest of Blue Sky
  Noise.
  But first, there’s “Get Out.” If other Circa Survive songs could be described
  as “weird” because of their texture or time signature or how flat the
  choruses were, “Get Out” is weird because of how evocative it is, not just of
  Translating The Name era Saosin (Green’s vocals are deliciously aggressive),
  but of the 90s alternative rock movement as well. It blends the energy of
  ”Seven Years” with a grungy, Smashing Pumpkins-like atmosphere, all capped
  off with a guitar solo that screams Nirvana. But it’s actually good. While it
  definitely wasn’t the best song to release as a teaser, “Get Out” romps
  through its three minutes with a gusto that Circa Survive have rarely shown.
  After that, the album veers off into the newer territory that the band
  started to explore on “Strange Terrain.” “Glass Arrows” seems to be what they
  were going for with songs like “Mandala” from On Letting Go. Instead of
  plodding along at one tempo and volume level for the entire song, “Glass
  Arrows” shifts into overdrive after the choruses, a tribal drumbeat blasting
  underneath palm mutes before the song recedes back into a spaced-out bridge
  that doesn’t overstay its welcome. For all the new things that Circa Survive
  do on this album, the music is never overindulgent, and that is perhaps the
  greatest testament to how much they have improved.
  Another thing that seemed to be missing from Circa Survive’s music in the
  past was an ability to relate to its listeners. Green’s lyrics were always
  good, always conceptual, and he was always able to drop some great
  one-liners, but perhaps the band’s lack of longevity came from the fact that
  while his lyrics aptly matched the music, they both ended up being a bit too
  dense to be relative to their audience. One listen to “I Felt Free” changes
  all that. Here, both Green and the musicians work together as a cohesive
  unit. The intro is gorgeous, the riff mimicking Green’s eventual vocal
  melody, and the rolling drums provide an interesting backbone during the
  verses, something that almost never happened on previous albums. The song
  goes through a few different moods between its verses and choruses; the
  former is brooding and the latter is a soaring, shining example of this new
  Circa Survive, this new beast that rears its head back and roars at the
  band’s other two albums. “I fell apart in your arms for the last time, and I
  felt free to do what I want because of the things you told me,” Green croons
  in the bridge, backed by a single clean-toned guitar, and he certainly sounds
  like he means it. And there is freedom in this album. It rings out in every
  chord, every drumbeat, every hook. For all of its different moods and tones,
  Blue Sky Noise is about a band letting go of preconceived notions, of
  expectations, of the shackles of their previous albums.
  From there, Blue Sky Noise is more of the same, which is to say, it’s more of
  Circa Survive being what nobody, even their biggest fans, ever thought they
  could be. The fast acoustic tempo and expertly produced drums of “Fever
  Dreams,” the immaculate chord progression of “Spirit Of The Stairwell”
  (complete with a snaking, slide guitar-like riff), and the uncertain, tense
  feelings contained within “The Longest Mile,” all point to a band that have
  realized their potential and so much more. All of this is encapsulated in the
  last song, “Dyed In The Wool.” With an almost tropical feel in the music
  (think Broken Social Scene’s “Pacific Theme”), the song shows once again that
  Circa Survive are done with boring verses that only serve as a weak skeleton
  to the rest of the song. The chorus’ distant, fuzzed-out choir gives Green a
  fantastic background to show that his best vocal moments aren’t just when he
  belts things out willy-nilly. “Dyed In The Wool” is surprising in that it
  doesn’t end Blue Sky Noise with any sort of bombast or fireworks, which the
  band has been fond of in the past. Rather, the highlight comes from the
  ascending guitar lead in the chorus, which is simple yet perfect, and the way
  the last chorus leads into a decidedly beautiful moment that closes the book
  in an immensely satisfying way. For anyone who thought that Blue Sky Noise
  would end up being more of the same from Circa Survive, think again. Those
  who previously considered them boring in the past might want to consider
  checking this album out. The entirety of Blue Sky Noise blows away anything
  else that Circa Survive have ever done. It is immense, it is challenging, and
  it will make fools out of those who doubt it.
- Track List —————————————————————- -
 01. Strange Terrain                          ( 3:59)
 02. Get Out                              ( 3:04)
 03. Glass Arrows                           ( 4:12)
 04. I Felt Free                            ( 3:56)
 05. Imaginary Enemy                          ( 4:25)
 06. Through the Desert Alone                     ( 4:06)
 07. Frozen Creek                           ( 5:00)
 08. Fever Dreams                           ( 4:35)
 09. Spirit of The Stairwell                      ( 5:30)
 10. The Longest Mile                         ( 4:04)
 11. Compendium                            ( 1:49)
 12. Dyed in the Wool                         ( 4:58)
- ————————————————————————— -
