Circus Mind have been teasing the tracks of this album out, one succulent single at a time, for the past year, a great way to tease the audience and test the water. Well, consider us teased to the point of utmost anticipation; the water tested and found perfect for a swim. And great as those individual musical servings and sonic insights were, it is, as always, when you find the songs arranged and arrayed, selected and sequenced that you appreciate the bigger picture. (Take note modern popsters who feel the need to drop every musical utterance even before the print is dry on the centre of the virtual single.)
‘The Battle of Brooklyn’ leads us in, using that first battle in the American Revolution as a metaphor for the advancement of, and fight against, gentrification and doing so over a groovey, R&B strut. Within a few bars you realise that this is a band with something to say and nothing to prove. Slinky and seductive, this opening salvo sets the tone perfectly, a blend of roots and rock, soul groove and funky moves. If album openers need to make an immediate impact to earn their keep, this first song deserves a massive raise.
‘Waste of Time’ was also a single and you can hear why: sixties-pop-infused, jaunty and joyous, it runs with an infectiousness that only the greatest pop songs do whilst being woven out of the same sophistication and sass that the likes of early Steely Dan made their name on.
Blues is on the cards with ‘Viking Princess’, a song built on that instantly recognisable sensual southern sound; ‘What A Mess’ is a soul-searching slice of gospel-rock and ‘NOLA Song’ quite appropriately brings all the jazzy, jumpy, Mississippi juke-joint jaunt together in one place…that place being a street party in the French Quarter of the titular town.
The title track rounds things off with a cool reminder to go your own way, chart your own course, beat your own path and do your own thing…a collective anthem to individualism!
Circus Mind have, through these single releases, been suggesting that the full album would be something special. But it is only when all ten songs are curated and collated cheek-by-jowl that you realise just what a more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts album Road Less Travelled is.
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