Episode 38 Circle The City: Dark and Enticing Progressive Alt Rock

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Today on the podcast we are featuring the Ontario alternative rock group Circle The City. Learn more about them and listen to their track “Next of Kin.”

Show Notes and Full Show Transcript

Hey everyone welcome to the Eat Sleep Breathe Music podcast. I am your host Jeanette Kimszal. For those of you just joining us, this is the podcast where I talk about different musicians and how their music affects me and then play their track for you to listen to. 

So you can check it out and form your own opinion as well. And I’d love to know what you think of the track if you’re so inclined to do so. 

And if you are interested in sharing your thoughts on this track and artist I’ll have details at the end of the show where you can leave your comments.

Today on the podcast we are featuring the group Circle The City. The Ontario foursome is made up of vocalist Marisa Campbell, guitarist Harold Collins, bassist Nathan Yeadon, and drummer Jesse Mootrey. 

I”m not sure if I’m pronouncing those correctly, so I apologize if I have butchered anyone’s name. 

So from what I gathered the band has been around for a couple of years. It looks like they came together maybe in 2018 based on when their Twitter page was founded. 

And they have been releasing music since 2019 according to their Bandcamp page. They have a few singles and a couple of releases.

It also looks like they also had a few lineup changes over the year with a few new singers. 

Vocalist, Marisa Campbell is the newest addition to the band. She is the new singer.

When I was doing some research I came across a Soundcloud page with some music from their old singer Kesenia Parent, and forgive me again if I pronounced that incorrectly.

I found her music interesting and I would recommend checking her out as well. I can leave a link to her page in the show notes if you’re interested.

Since their inception, they have been gaining notoriety in their hometown of Sarnia. 

Overall this is labeled as an “alternative” band I would but this song I”m going to be playing later “Next of Kin” covers quite a few genres of music and I think that is what makes this song interesting. 

And I would say this song is kind of evident of the band’s various musical influences as the melodies flow through it it sounds very different from how it sounds at the beginning.

It moves through various different genres of music. I mean even though the band seems to deem themselves as alternative. I would almost say this track is a little bit more progressive rock.

They have a lot of different sounds in them. It does have alternatives but It’s got a little bit of this psychedelic. Psychedelica. And at the end of the song, the song has this long guitar, the guitar I guess solo, and it’s not really long but it’s kind of reminiscent of progressive rock. 

And this long guitar solo that melds really well into the rest of the song. And even just with the opening notes it’s like these…I can’t really tell if it’s like a piano key or if it’s a guitar key because it has these repetitive like melodies.

And it’s like back and forth, back and forth, and it’s very catchy and very just kind of like getting in your ear and like “oh!” You get excited from the song even just in the first couple of notes.

It starts with the guitar and then there is a little bit of the drum. That tst tst tst drum. 

And then the guitars come in with these jazzy psychedelic guitars that are like fast riffs back and forth adding to the momentum and this goes on for about 10 seconds or so and you’re just waiting for what’s next.

ANd boom you’re hit with the vocals at 30 seconds that just go so eloquently well with the music. 

It’s just this enticing sound with so many things going on. It’s quite a complex song. It offers something for a lot of audiences. 

It also incorporates some darker slower tempos on parts of the song which has been referred to as doom metal. It’s not really metal because it’s not super hard but if you look at the explanation of doom metal it says it has low tuned slower tempo sound which I could hear in this song. 

It also does have thicker sounding guitars which is another element of doom metal. So maybe it would be like doom rock or something along those lines.

And then the vocals are not so upbeat but they pair well with the music elevating when the music elevates and then kind of lowering when the tempo goes down. 

It just all comes together quite effortlessly and it sounds like it fits so well. 

You can really hear a variety of influences on the sound and it came together really well.

The band actually said they want their fans to be unexpecting and open-minded to the different sounds they can create. They said that “We are always trying to challenge one another when it comes to writing music. There is an expectation amongst us to never become complacent with our sound.”

And I feel like this is really a great single to have. I was really taken with this song and I think the whole melding of genres was really cool. 

 The other thing is that there is actually a lot of your meaning behind the song. Not only with the music but the lyrics as well. 

And the lyrics kind of talk about a reflection of society. Do you know? It’s talking about the lack of respect when it comes to privacy in society and also just kind of being completely apathetic and trusting of the news and information we receive on a daily basis and I…you know people don’t take the time to check sources and a quote from the band says “We have unlimited resources to check facts, but we’d rather it be fed to us,”

So you know it’s kind of like a darker topic and something can resonate with a lot of people and the dark music mixes very well with the lyrics and the seriousness of the topic. 

So you know it’s got a good beat and it’s got something important to say. 

It’s always nice when music has meaningful lyrics so you get a duality out of it where you’re not only enjoying the music but you’re also enjoying the lyrics and getting something out of that.

And just going back to the lyrics I was looking them up but I couldn’t find the actual lyrics online anywhere.

There was a part in the song…I don’t know if it was the chorus or the hook. There is just a part of the song where the vocals go so well with the music.

It’s like bana bana…and the vocals kind of like match the music I really like that part and it stands out to me just as something else I wanted to touch upon. 

Yeah, you know I like this song. I like the complexity. I like the lyrics and the music and the guitar solos. And just the different elements that come together.

It’s a seriously intriguing sound and if you’re wondering what artists Circle the City can be compared to they have been recommended for fans of The Mars Volta, I Mother Earth, Battles, and Blood Ceremony.

If you are in Ontario this summer you can check out the band live at a few shows. Details can be found on their Facebook page which I’ll leave a link to in the show notes.

But I’ve feel l’ve talked enough and so without further ado here is “Next of Kin” by Circle The City for your listening enjoyment. 

We would love to know what you think about “Next of Kin” and Circle the City. You can tell us in a comment on the podcast webpage. You can also leave an audio comment at the link in the episode summary.

If you’re looking for more information on Circle the City you can like them on Facebook at the handle CircleTheCityBandSarnia. That is C-I-R-C-L-E T-H-E C-I-T-Y B-A-N-D S-A-R-N-I-A

You can also follow them on Instagram and Twitter. Their handle on Instagram is CircleTheCityBand. That is C-I-R-C-L-E T-H-E C-I-T-Y B-A-N-D.

On Twitter, you can find them at the handle CircleTheCityCa. That is C-I-R-C-L-E T-H-E C-I-T-Y C-A

If you are looking for more new music be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you will get the latest updates on our artist features. You can also find more music features on our website at www.EatSleepBreatheMusic.com. That is E-a-t-S-l-e-e-p-B-r-e-a-t-h-e-M-u-s-i-c dot com.

Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode!

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