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Music Underwater Magazine by David Tandy Circus Devils is, aside from his solo career, Pollard's longest running side project. Following three albums, comes this, their fourth, somewhat confusingly titled 'Five'. The songs that comprise Five often don't feature a single guitar, instead relying on Todd Tobias's trademark aural textures to create moods often bordering on ambient, a new and exciting background for Pollard to ply his trade. Bob's performance, and Tobias's technical skill, allows the vocals to sound as intimately distant and affecting as on classic GBV albums Vampire On Titus and Alien Lanes. Only this time, instead of lo-fi guitars and smashed drums behind him, it's Todd's unique brand of subtle sound manipulation. The new contrast is captivating from the start. Animal Motel is the first song featuring distorted guitars, and it's still as bizarre as everything else on the record. A metal riff accompanied by drums low in the mix and swooping sound effects behind Bob's aching vocals. After convincing you it's the closest you're going to get to a straight-forward rock song, it descends into Pollard crying, "It's not me - It's the bee" repeatedly over more chaotic noise. The theme continues through No Wonder They Don't Stand Tall. A beautiful Pollard vocal performance is accompanied by a perfectly toned background, Tobias knowing just when to tone down his influence and allow Bob to shine. If I were forced to pick my favourite song from these, track 14, Her Noise would be in the running for some time. A whistling sound affect and a stumbling plucked guitar assist Bob as he delivers a vocal dripping with desperation and yearning. However, at a push, I think my vote would have to go to Dolphins Of Color, an understated beauty. Tobias's music gently roars beneath Pollard's low pitch singing. It's one of the most moving songs Pollard has ever created. It's the perfect soundtrack to late night contemplation. Even in amongst this, surely Pollard's most wilfully strange release, lies a melody so good, a song so perfectly crafted, you wonder how Pollard can keep coming up with them. You Take The Lead is, after a somewhat downbeat album, among Pollard's most uplifting songs. It buzzes into motion and lazily clatters along before the vocal kicks in and the shiver goes spiralling down your spine. It's an album of wonderful aural scope and intelligence, filled with emotion. Whenever Pollard attempts a style of music with which he's unfamiliar, the results are always at worst interesting; here they're nothing short of spectacular. Detroit Free Press By BB Robert Pollard and Todd Tobias return with hallucinatory sci-fi rock project The Circus Devils. Multi-instrumentalist Tobias keeps things primal-n-futuristic while Pollard's lyrics allude to the horrors of the human race in a way both cryptic and imaginative. Much like Gang of Four's attempt to wise us to the consumer world, the Circus Devils forewarn of a world consuming us. Coke Machine Glow By Bryan Roswell Circus Devils' previous three releases --- Ringworm Interiors (2001), The Harold Pig Memorial (2002) and Pinball Mars (2004) --- proved to be the outlet for Guided By Voices' former frontman Robert Pollard's more progressive side of his otherwise pop-rock dominated series of musical personas. The Brothers Tobias proved more than capable as musicians, installing the listener with odd time signature, not-quite-ambient noise that backed Pollard's increasingly obscure lyrical bend. The albums were more experimental than just about any in the Fading Captain canon, yet they somehow always kept at least one toe on the terra-firma of accessibility on which Pollard has made a career. As such, these albums were wondrous romps through the slightly musically-disparate musical imaginations of its members. Five has Pollard and Todd Tobias amputating said toe, and the majority of the record is an over-indulgence of their prog-rock influences. They opt for experiment over melody and noise over rhythm. After the instrumental opener "The Bending Sea," "Look Between What's Going On" has a bass-heavy beginning that leads into a diggery-doo solo. Vegemite sandwich, anyone? The next few tracks sound like b-sides to Ringworm Interiors with their dynamic soundscapes and rapidly hopping textures. Somewhat enjoyable, but one can't help but feel that they've heard these songs before. "Strain" begins a series of interestingly, more traditional-sounding tunes that save Five from being a throwaway release. "Future for Germs" is one of the album's few gems, again with Pollard writing from his lyrical shed in Montana: "In various corners / Many legs roam / Arms and chairs / Tiny jeweled eyes love you." "Effective News," "Eyes Reload," "Her Noise" and the instrumental "We Taught Them Rock and Roll" round out the middle third of Five that have Tobias and Pollard melding experiment and melody as well as any portion of Circus Devils' past. The remainder of Five is typical, pedestrian fare of noise-driven, obscurely-worded prog-pop. I'm not sure where and how exactly Five went awry. As a comparison, check out the overlooked Clouds Forming Crowns release for what the Tobias brothers can do as a musical collective. Pollard claims on his website that there was a shelved fourth Circus Devils album, titled Sgt. Disco. You have to take that with a grain of salt, but if Sgt. Disco really is out there, why did Pollard and Tobias choose to release Five instead? In any case, Five is beautiful in parts and downright uninspired in others. |
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