CD Review, Clocks are Like People

"In a castle far away
A band beins to play
The medieval disco lights are shining"

Circulus are one of those bands who are almost impossible to categorise. Their music includes both ancient moogs, and really ancient instruments like crumhorns and rausch pfiffers. With their charity shop medieval garb they can't avoid comparisons with Blackmores Night, but unlike BN, Americanised renfaire cheese is thankfully absent from their sound. Circulus certainly don't do cheap pop records. What we get is instead is flute-driven psychedelic folk-prog, with some loopily surreal lyrics in places, featuring dragons, south London skip hire companies, and Trumpton. Songs like 'To The Fields' recall early Mostly Autumn at their most pastoral, and I hear faint echoes of Caravan in some of the moog wig-outs, but overall they've got a very distinctive musical identify of their own.