Circa Survive Band • Page 110

just as i said, i prefer BSN to the first two records a great deal, and it breaks with the circa fan orthodoxy that could not help but be expressed in the posts above where they somehow “ironed out the eccentricities of their sound” or characterize it as some kind of commercial capitulation (to which i say, what??????) which always always always means “i miss every song having some kind of dueling guitar thing”

what happened was they changed up their approach and made a bunch of songs with totally individual identities that also flowed into each other like a cool journey across a broken landscape. i can’t relate to thinking the songs got blander or less psychedelic or that the production of all things is to blame here. for me it’s when they become more distinguished band if anything!!!

i love the first two records but they sound very much like the late ‘00s it’s almost like a time machine

 

This thread and the new EPs has me itching to do a discography run this week. Maybe I’ll make big posts about the albums too to collect all my thoughts and share them, idk. This band is easily my favorite band and one that made such a huge impact on me as a listener, musician, and person. Saosin was the band that introduced this entire scene to me and Circa was the band that really took things to the next level for me. Been a massive fan since late 2009 and rarely has that ever wavered.

 

BSN production is definitely lacking. I just checked Apple Music and apparently the remaster is the only thing on streaming. Amulet is my favorite sounding Circa album. VW sounds lifeless to me, but also huge at the same time? I think that has more to do with the songs than the production.

And since we're talking entry points, mine was the Act Appalled video on Fuse. I didn't like it at first. At some point downloaded and burned Juturna to a CD, became a casual fan, but LOVED OLG. It was one of the first CDs I remember getting the summer I turned 16, so I have fond memories of it being one of the first albums I jammed a lot driving in the car by myself.

 

BSN was also my entry point. I listened to the first couple tracks when they premiered it on whatever website. I had always enjoyed a few TTN songs before I knew of Circa so I was intrigued but not super into them. Funny enough I think the universe was telling me something because they popped up at two of my most anticipated shows I saw after BSN dropped. We caught their set right after Torche and before Coheed on the YotBR tour. Then was completely unaware they were the only opening band for Deftones at the Sac hometown show right after DE came out. The crowd loved them too I recall. Anyways then eventually I finally gave Juturna a listen and remember liking it. Though it wasn’t until my now Wife moved away for school for a year that it really clicked. I remember a very rainy cold March day driving to my dads house in the Bay Area I had the album sync up perfectly. It’s still my favorite album from them. Though everything they do I love now.

 

fuckin love BSN but frankly all my favourite songs from those sessions are on Appendage

...this band is good at EPs y'all

 

The Appendage EP is really awesome. The band was truly firing on all cylinders around the OLG/BSN eras, it’s unreal.

 

this may be the very last thing I ever say about BSN. please god.

they demoed 1000 songs before going in the studio for it and none of it made it. they had 2 preproductions for that album because they fully scrapped the first. spent that extra year in the studio arguing with the label over all of it. and the album released with songs like I Felt Free and Imaginary Enemy. they remastered it later. they very clearly didnt make the album they wanted to make. plain and simple. there were lyrics on both BSN and VW where Anthony not so subtlety even says it. theyve spoken publicly in interviews about it in the years since.

 

BSN isn't my favorite but has one of my favorite CS songs ever, Glass Arrows. God that kid vocal section into the bridge is so fucking good. I still get chills.

 

I wasn’t aware of just how much they demoed for BSN and that they scrapped all their initial work. Maybe I knew back in 2010/2011 when I was reading a lot of their interviews, posting on the Circa boards, and trying to watch any videos they put out regarding the writing/recording process, but that’s interesting. I definitely remember reading about the disagreements they had with the label though and I vividly remember reading something about Anthony yelling at the label to get Fever Dreams on the album.

With that said, I don’t know if I’d say they didn’t make the album they wanted to make. I mean, you use I Felt Free as your example, but I’m pretty sure they’ve all been big proponents for that song. Maybe they saw it as more of a b-side and the label wanted it on. I don’t know. I know they’ve publicly stated their distaste for Atlantic Records, but I’ve never gotten the sense that they dislike any of the songs from BSN.

Maybe it was more of discussing which songs would make the album and which would be on Appendage. I remember in a Q&A they did with the patreon back in 2020 that they heavily debated putting Lazarus on the album, but it ended up being a b-side. Maybe there are songs they felt more strongly about on there than on BSN, but, like I said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them make any comments to the effect of “Oh, the label wanted this song on and we didn’t so it’s on there but we felt forced to write and release it.” They seem to like all their material, just not the label because of the strict process of it all.

 

Same, except Through the Desert Alone

 

they had so many demoes that werent tapped. some became songs on subsequent albums. the label didnt like what they were trying to do. the songs that made the album were ripped apart and put back together with outside influence. there was alot of politics. Capital Records was NOT a good time in their lives to put it lightly.

also read all of these lyrics and say damn

“What was stolen from us
Now is forever lost
Just because we'll never pay the ransom
What was taken from me
I will never regain just because
We'll never pay the ransom

Wasted with the rhythm
Angry at the melody”

“Now that it's over
I must admit, going down within this ship
I will never sail again”

“You get what you paid for
We can't sell our
Goddamn souls anymore, anymore
Don't let them give you the runaround again, again”

“Who'll take the lottery?
Don't look away
We're the unlucky ones
I won't let it tear us apart!”

 

I am really loving ADAD - so I thought I'd go back and give ADAL another shot and still not doing it for me. But hey, at least ADAD is connecting.

 

i'm exhausted, "i felt free" and "imaginary enemy" are dope

 

they can be dope songs but that doesnt change what happened between the band and the label.

and I like BSN in retrospect. dont miss the point.

 

I enjoy the Appendage EP, but I hardly ever listen to it. I understand why those tracks didn't make the final cut, but it's been a while since I've played through it.

 

BSN Is way more of a straight forward rock record. nothing wrong with it, just prefer the weirder circa.

 

I’m always so curious to hear from the band which demos have been repurposed for later albums. I’m pretty sure they’ve said there are some ideas that were around from OLG that ended up on BSN. Don’t quote me on these, but I seem to remember reading on the Circa board that Stare Like You’ll Stay and Backmask (and obviously Sleep Underground) were some of those ideas, while Every Way and Lazarus were written during BSN. I know Bird Sounds was an idea from OLG that was finally realized for VW. I’m not sure of any others off the top of my head though.

 

theres lots of that

I just remembered that Sleep Underground is only a self recorded demo on Appendage. and it was Atlantic records not Capital I misremembered. they mustve been dropped within half a year after that ep. it only came out 7 months after the lp.

 

I wish the band got around to doing a podcast about the writing and recording of BSN and their later albums for the patreon. I understand why they stopped doing them, but those would have been so cool, especially for the ten-year anniversary of BSN

 

a podcast series like the one Underoath is doing is my dream.

 

Those of you on the BSN production sucks train may find this interesting

 

Im an awful guitar player with little knowledge...but listening to BSN again I think I just don't like how "riff" heavy the songs are. Its like pre & post BSN had been about layers of guitar sound to create vibe, where this is much more lead guitar line focused.

Like I really enjoy Get Out, but it has a bunch of things that just feel formulaic
The bridge is the only moment where it sounds like an OG circa song to me...where that used to be the whole song.

The whole album feels like its punctuated by classic dueling circa guitars for moments with a lot more solitary rocks structure around them.

Glass Arrows being the closest to their pre BSN sound.

 

I'll never understand why BSN gets criticized for being formulaic at times when Juturna and OLG had some formulaic, straightforward songs too.

 

my favorite song on olg is "kicking your crosses down," i like it when they switch it up, bsn is an album where they are constantly switching it up and it is refreshing to me. the guitars being more rhythmically alternating than swirling around each other is even part of that for me, the songs breathe!

 

Doing a relisten right now -
Through the Desert is a very rad song