It’s impossible to oversell the influence and impact that Circa Survive has had on both independent music as an industry, and independent music as an entity. For me, Juturna is arguably one of the most important records of the past 10 years, an album that fundamentally changed how I listened to music, how I received an album, how I felt what I was listening to. It’s music that buries itself deep, the kind that you find yourself absentmindedly humming, melodies that latch on and do not let go. It’s an album that hasn’t just aged well, it’s remained as relevant and crucial as it was when it was released in 2005. But this is a band that has pushed itself - artistically, creatively, and as businessmen - and each album has achieved a sense of maturation and progression that most bands spend entire careers chasing. Melodic, intense, boundary-dissolving, and deeply moving - Circa Survive is something all it’s own.
Their live show, it stands to reason, is a natural extension of their recorded output, simply untethered from the confines of a passive medium. Circa Survive, in a live setting, is a living, breathing, massive thing, one vocalist Anthony Green has turned into puppet theater of epic proportions. No matter the size of the room, Green’s words - belted, screamed, crooned - direct a crowd in a way that doesn’t ask for participation, it demands it. I imagine there will be a fair amount of old tracks on display, but the band recently finished recording their 5th studio LP, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear one or two new tracks mixed in. No matter the mix, it will be stirring, energetic, and frenetic.
In taking their extensive, genre-defying back catalog out on the road, the band will bring with them one of today’s most promising, intriguing, and emotionally charged acts, Pianos Become The Teeth. While I’ve yet to see them perform live, all indications are that it’s a vital, exhausting experience.
With two full-lengths - 2010’s screamo calling card, Old Pride and 2011’s masterpiece The Lack Long After, Pianos Become The Teeth are set to introduce fans to a new record, one that promises to divide as much as it will captivate. By all accounts, Keep You will be a record that marks a new direction for the band, one just as rooted in emotion, but no longer bound to the exhaustive and emotional vocabulary of modern screamo. Instead, expect a more introspective sound - just as emotional, but focused less on shouting loudly expressing how they feel, and more on what they feel. Long time fans will find their new direction less surprising, as it’s something that has seemingly been in the works over the past few years - their last few split releases have given a fairly strong indication of where they’ve been heading. Ultimately, it’s hard to say how it will be taken - this is a band that has garnered increasing, and justified praise for the music they’ve released - but it’s a guarantee that it will be moving, creative, and still true to who they are as a band. It may just be a little quieter about it.
September 9th at The Southgate House Revival is going to be a hell of a night - both for myself and for everyone else in attendance. These are two bands at the top of their collective games, both unafraid to take risks, push boundaries, and create what is truest to them at any given time. I, for one, can’t wait to see what shape that will take - live, and recorded.
Check out the interview with Anthony Green of Circa Survive from last year HERE!
Circa Survive
Pianos Become The Teeth
The Southgate House Revival
Tuesday, September 9th
7p Doors / 8p Show
