Circa Survive Band • Page 114

indra's net is right up there with flesh and bone and the amulet as my favorite songs from that era. in some respects i find it to be the true closer of the album, despite it and dark pools just being tacked on to the deluxe as bonus tracks it really does work in that slot if you listen straight through as i often do.

 

speaking of art. the alt art for BSN through Amulet are all better than the main art.

 

even better I should say

 

once i can afford it im getting a sleeve of circa/esao art

 

YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE LICKS SO THAT YOUR DEAD
YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE, BLOOOOD PRESSSUREEEEE


greatest moment in any song ive ever heard

 

The alt BSN art is really sick, and that bonfire art is maybe the best Esao painting imo

 

yeah the bonfire is sick, how do you not use that as album art haha.

 

its the back cover so technically it is part of it. if you own their stuff on physical i consider everything on the package as part of the album art

 

I used to listen to Descensus a ton back when it came out and in 2015. Back then, it was actually my third favorite release ahead of Juturna. I don’t know why, over time, I’ve listened to it much less because I am reminded of how strong this album is every time I revisit it. Schema is such a kick in the teeth. I mean, where were all of you when that drum and bass groove changed who you are and everything you ever stood for?

All joking aside, Schema has really developed into an all-timer for me. There are TONS of groovy songs on here. Steve and Nick were so locked in as a rhythm section on this album, it’s unreal. There are so many great guitar riffs and melodies on here too. I remember my first time listening to this album just feeling how reinvigorated the band was. These songs just come to life in a way that VW was somewhat lacking at times.

I love that they channeled more of their heavier influences on this album, particularly on Schema and the title track, but I also love that they can balance that sound with their more atmospheric rock stuff like on Child of the Desert and Only the Sun while also introducing some post rock influence on Nesting Dolls and electronic elements on Phantom. I love that they brought back some weirder time signatures on this album too, their weirdest since Juturna. Anthony’s voice fucking soars on some of these songs too (shout-out Always Begin and Sovereign Circle).

If I have any complaints about this album, it largely in the production. It’s so fucking loud at times like BSN, but also feels thin or messy at times too. I’m not a big production guy so I don’t know the exact words to use to describe how I’m feeling when I listen to this album, but I’m always a bit put off by this album sonically. I also don’t really get what’s going on with Who Will Lie With Me Now? I feel like they should have replaced that with Awake in a Dream or just left it off the album entirely and released a nine-song album. Still, it’s a short interlude and inoffensive song so I’ve always been just whatever about it.

Favorite songs:
1. Schema
2. Descensus
3. Nesting Dolls
4. Always Begin

 

I think Sovereign Circle is one of their most underrated songs. An absolute barn burner of a chorus buried towards the end of one of their least heralded albums.

 

Completely agreed and I almost included it over Always Begin for my #4. Incredible penultimate track that sets up the title track beautifully

 

sovereign circle is one of the 3 songs i still listen to off of there

there are a couple of really dope demos from descensus era on their patreon. literally zero idea why they didnt record them for the album.

 

Do you remember the titles of any? I have most the demos downloaded, but most of them were from 2020/2021 or from 2011/2012

 

Descensus is a better album than I remember too, really consistent and they're heaviest easily but also Phantom really goes off.

I think I'll power through Amulet and the EP's so I can focus on Big Thief tomorrow, always fun to run through this band's records.

 

I just searched “Descensus” on their patreon to see posts including a mention of that album and didn’t find anything besides Awake in a Dream, safe camp versions of Sovereign Circle and Descensus, and updates to their digital archive.

I remember reading in an interview back in 2014 that they didn’t have any material written beforehand, wrote the album in the studio, and recorded 11 songs (the album and Awake in a Dream). If there are any demos from that era, I’d love to hear them, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t any, or at least none that are publicly available.

 

i went back and checked. i stopped my sub in december so i cant listen anymore. but it was 2 of the 3 - drug mule, waves, and computer crasher I was thinking of. looking now one of them says 2011 (and one is called waves) but they sound like they couldve easily been on descensus at least haha.

 

Ah okay, I have those three. Drug Mule is a demo from 2011 while the other two are songs they demoed for VW

 

Not at all, I'm a huge Violent Waves apologist in general, on a good day I'll say it's my favorite Circa album. It took me years to warm up to, probably around the time The Amulet came out was when it really started to hit for me. It feels emotional to me on a different level than their other stuff - the strain on Anthony's voice, the very spacy and spacious mix, VW just hits different.

 

I think this is really cool. Thank you for sharing. It certainly does have its highlights!

 

I’ve got no hot takes on the Amulet, just a really nice album.

 

Gone for Good is such a beautiful song

 

It was my least favorite when ADAL came out, but it has grown on me so much.

 

Twin Dreams really really works as a full album. Transitions perfectly and all feels real cohesive.

 

One thing that’s always interested me about Circa is who writes what. From what I saw on Patreon and elsewhere, Colin pretty much wrote the lyrics and music for I Felt Free & Imaginary Enemy, which were the two big singles from BSN. They were probably more obviously “mainstream”, but I wasn’t sure if that was because they were almost entirely by Colin or just that those were more publicly disclosed as Colin songs since they’re to of the most popular/known ones.

 

I’m gonna be real with you guys I did not entirely realise they had released two EP’s that basically equated to a new album. The fact they didn’t just release it as an album makes me already doubt how good they are, which is a bad way of looking at things probably.