HANG ON TO THAT KITE

Circles End, based in Kristiansand, Norway, leave no doubt about their talent and potential on this album, which sadly seems to be the last we'll hear from them -- the band's website appears not to have been updated since 2007.

All the more reason to check this album out, which contains some superb moments. The music is often very Cantebury, and that's when the band is at its best. Some excellent saxophone work finishes off very nice and intricate arrangements reminiscent of National Health or Hatfield and the North.

Unfortunately this jazzy side is only half the story, the other half being simpler, serious passages, chiefly the ones led by the singer Riis Jacobsen, which are very earnest and remind me of more modern American soul pop balladeers. This clash of styles is nowhere more manifest than in "Two few feet", a super tune ruined (I think) by the mournfully sobbing vocals and self-obsessing lyrics which insist, completely at odds with the otherwise cheerful tune, that there is every reason to be depressed. It all comes together nicely in the opening track "Echoes", but for the rest of the album I'm afraid the differing styles compete rather than enhance each other, and the boys would have done better with a different style of singer. This is not to criticise Riis Jacobsen's singing as such -- in a soul band he'd be great!

For me this album is too schizophrenic, evidencing a band that can't quite decide where to go. The cover artwork is parodically retro, the front image stuffed with as many vintage items as they could lay hands on (excepting the glasses of the character to the right...) and packed with Pythonesque humour, contrasting the sincere, at times even downcast lyrics. Parts of the band are clearly very influenced by the English 70s prog scene (e.g. the superb and archetypically Cantebury instrumental "The Dogfather Has Entered the Lift" -- not elevator!), yet the singing is in American English.

In summary, Circles End were promising great things with this album back in 2004, which unfortunately do not seem to ever materialise. By all means