Feature photo: JP Hesser
Originally formed to provide pre-recorded instrumental breaks for the Grateful Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” tour a few years ago, Circles Around The Sun has quickly evolved into a standalone entity worthy of a double-album’s worth of its own imprint. Let It Wander is already adventurous in this day and age by going both double-disc and vocal-free, so the pressure is on to ‘say’ something the holds attention with their instruments. As they emerge from the shadow of the Dead to make something that’s entirely of their own doing, it’s fair to state that they’ve cleared those hurdles.
You might opine that Circles Around The Sun sounds like an instrumental version of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and you’d be half right: guitarist Neal Casal and keyboard man Adam MacDougall are part of that band as well, and there’s a lot of shared musical DNA with the easygoing, mildly psychedelic vibe that puts you in the same sort of blissed, chill out mood. Dan Horne (bass) and Mark Levy (drums) form the rhythm section that’s supple and responsive, two of the most critical qualities needed for a band that plays for the journey, not the destination.
MacDougall doesn’t ever seem to lay his hands on keyboards invented after 1976 and he hits you seventies style from three sides on “On My Mind” with a Rhodes, Moog and clavinet. Casal’s guitar goes a little Afrobeat, perfectly accentuated by the Horne/Levy rhythm section and additional percussion from Jeff Franca (who also lends percussive help on “Electric Chair (Don’t Sit There)”). The blueprint is all laid out here; the group balances the ‘jam’ aspect with melodic appeal, individual improv with collective intent.
“One For Chuck” refers to rap legend Chuck D, who happened by the studio during the album’s sessions and lends a few words at the beginning of this tune. But after the shout-out, it’s back to business, and Casal soon takes the focus with lead lines that trades ideas with MacDougall’s vintage synth probes. Notably, they don’t dwell on that riff and soon move to another one where Casal slathers on guitar drones, returning to the original motif when the time is right.
“Immovable Object” is the only tune not collectively composed — MacDougall alone penned it — and he’s quite prominent on it, blending in an array of keys that constitute a mellow rightness. The rhythm section is so together on this one, they make it impossible for the other two guys to mess it up. Matter of fact, they’re so smooth, you’d hardly notice they’re churning out a 7/8 time signature on “Halicarnassus,” a lengthy chilled groove extravaganza that slowly unfolds like a song by The Necks.
“Tacoma Narrows” is a funk construction sprung from a nervy clavinet/bass syncopation and a spacey feel to the twenty-minute “Ticket To Helix NGC 7293” keeps the laid back vibe going all the way to the end.
Is it jazz-rock fusion or just instrumental jam-rock? Such descriptions are superfluous when the music connects, as Let It Wander does. And it’s not difficult to understand why the music does, Circles Around The Sun tells you in the album’s title.
Rhino Records will make Let It Wander available digitally and via limited edition vinyl on August 17, 2018.
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