MOVIN' ON

A very impressive work from a band that comes from a country really not know for it´s prog...or music in general really: Switzerland. Yes, Switzerland, the land of banks, clocks, fine chocolate and neutrality gives us this delightful band: Circus. Circus music is a combination of folk and jazz without being fusion, while other elements as symphonic and experimentation are also present in smaller portions of course. The line up consists of bass guitar, acoustic guitars, wind instruments and impressive drumming. The musicianship is really top notch, really spectacular at times, without ever getting too in your face or too weird to understand. Special mention to Fritz Hauser´s drumming, really impressive as I said before, this drummer has it´s roots in fazz and delivers some fantastic rythm´s with a lot of feeling and swing.

The songs are all very alike, which can get a bit tedious at times, but they still remain very good. The bandsman (a surprisingly accesible song yet full of changes) opens the album with some interesting acoustic guitars till the whole band drops. The vocals are very nice, full of melody and quite happy also. Unlike many german bands, Circus´s singer Roland Frei has a very appealing german accent, which only adds as a bonus to the end result, something which as I said before is quite rare.

Laughter lane follows quite in the same direction as The bandsman but softer, with some interesting and gentle instrumentation thrue out the song.

Loveless time is most interesting due to Frei´s singing and saxophone. A very uplifting song. Notice the bass line around the fourth minute, I always find it to be terribly similar to Hendrix Foxy lady riff!!!

Dawn is just what this album need´s to go in another direction, and it does. The song is pure experimentation, instrumental jazz and interesting noices make this a very unique piece of the album.

Movin´on would almoust seem as the second part of the Bandsman, cause it starts quite similar with the acoustic guitars... until drums, flutes and a distorted bass move the piece into a more free jazz section. The first vocal´s are just "da da da´s", no lyrics, just some simple singing, which is still quite good! The vocals with actual words start around the end of the eight minute, here the band takes it nice and calm, for the vocals are definitly the focus point. The distorted bass comes in and out, which makes this song quite unique for it´s use...nice! The song ends again instrumentally in a jazzy way, first calm then shifting to a more intense playing; the bass work at the very end is really impressive! Funny thing, the band stops playing but for a whole more minute the song goes on, and if you listen to very closely you will hear some sort of vibes...strange way to end an album, but it works.

Defenitly to check out, specially if you are into acoustic musik and/or jazz with some good vocals. This is not a masterpiece, but I can´t think you can go any better than this in this kind of genre, so it comes highly recommended from my part.