Flying Circles are a three-piece from Oakland, California, comprising of Colleen Johnson (of Upside Drown), Evan Hashi (The Hive Dwellers), and Preston Bryant (Stephen Steinbrink). The band today release their debut album Of Loving Grace on Portland label Antiquated Future Records (who also recently released the great album from The Washboard Abs), a record the blurb describes as “angular post-punk pop ecstasy”, which I think is a pretty accurate summation of the Flying Circles sound.
Opener ‘Sleepwalker’ kicks off proceedings with a dose of helter-skelter indie pop, at times smooth and melodic, others stop-start and jerky. “Called out from the depths of sleep”, Johnson sings, “by an asking voice / I wake and gnash my teeth like a morning chorus”. Things shift more towards the dream-pop end of the spectrum on ‘Diamond Eye’, as Johnson’s vocals whip around a song that sounds electrically charged, while single ‘Dayglo Queen’ has a twilit vibe, a slinky indie pop song for neon-lit alleys, all backed up by crunchy and grumbling electronics.
“Dull eyes stare out onto empty streets
Television haunts the face with a blue glow
So you caught a sidelong glance in the mirror
Hear a voice beckoning, no reply
Follow it into the heart of an empty city
Glowing like a distant lamp on a dark night”
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‘Til the World Turns Over’ is an understatedly catchy yet spiky pop song, sleeper radio hit that will probably never get the attention it deserves. It sounds perfect for the oncoming summer, with its kinda lazy shuffle which somehow propels the track forward. ‘Hidden Mountain’ slides along dreamily, punctuated by swells of instrumentation which gather and swirl and then dissipate just as quickly, before ‘Green Ennui’ rumbles and reverberates, Hashi taking over vocal duties for a while.
“Through the hole in my shirt
Past the smoldering urns
A coffee pot seeps and burns
What left me?”
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‘Disaster’ has a laid back, almost tropical lilt, as Johnson’s vocals tale on an almost classic folk quality, while ‘Please Stay’ is another shambling pop song that descends into waspish guitar. The final track ‘Arachnibs’ is psych-tinged and spirals on past the seven minute barrier, all the way to its twitchy and restless extended outro.
You can download Of Loving Grace via the Flying Circles Bandcamp page, or grab a cassette from Antiquated Future Records.
