Michael Tyack and friends wear medieval outfits and live in a 24/7 fantasy world. Are we ready for Circulus's bubblegum psychedelic folk-rock? Or will the joke wear thin?
The Spinal Tap of folk-rock
London-based oddballs Circulus are the ultimate cult group, like a cross between Sealed Knot medieval enthusiasts and an early 1970s wife-swapping party. They certainly have persistence: their singer, bandleader and spiritual guru Michael Tyack broke up their first incarnation after some members refused to go “totally medieval”. And they spent years without a record deal, before the recent folk renaissance has made the band seem strangely relevant for a bunch of fantasists led by a man who bases his entire look on Philip the Good, the 15th century Duke of Burgundy!
What do they look like?
The CD booklet photographs for their first album, 2005’s The Lick on the Tip of an Envelope Yet to be Sent, shows the band parading around the capital’s parklands in leather jerkins, wide-brimmed hats, suits of armour even, while armed with lutes and pikestaffs. They are also pictured lounging in tapestry-draped rooms with their young female friends, one of whom is topless. The vibe is Performance meets Steeleye Span.
Circulus are certainly well aware of their more ludicrous elements: their website describes their music as “a gentle fist fight between a group of undernourished sixteenth century court musicians and an acid-soaked bunch of hippy rockers from the early 70s.” And they are right…
From the Middle Ages to MySpace
But in a funny kind of way, Circulus are very now. They have a MySpace page and are dab hands at PR (Tyack allegedly sacked his housemate Kevin for not believing in pixies). They’ve converted several journalists along the way, and have been the subject of positive articles in the broadsheets and a segment on BBC2’s Culture Show. The NME has compared them favourably to The Polyphonic Spree.
The Lick on the Tip of an Envelope Yet to be Sent
But what about the music? …Envelope… is a surprisingly catchy affair, a series of three-to-four minute numbers creating a whole new genre: bubblegum psychedelic folk-rock. Opener Miri It Is is a traditional song about the passing of the seasons, where close harmonies, Steeleye rhythms and flutes combine. My Body is Made of Sunlight is considerably more Age of Aquarius, a blissed-out magic mushroom epiphany.
The Scarecrow tells the tragic story of the eponymous straw man who catches fire after enjoying a cigarette on a windy day. “Don’t burn out before your time”, counsels Tyack. After this melody-laden opening trilogy, the progtastic Orpheus sees Victor Hugo Lamas (!) bang his bongos as a cosmic groove gets going, as flute and malfunctioning keys burble over the top a la the Stones’ psychedelic classic 2,000 Light Years From Home. We Are Long Lost is another ethereal anthem, spelling out Tyack’s philosophy of life: “if we don’t believe in fantasy, we are long lost.”
Swallow is a hymn to the eponymous bird, with chiming guitars to the fore. The Aphid is a slightly unfocused instrumental; Candlelight is another winsome tribute to the power of the imagination; before Power to the Pixies ends the album in rousing style, nailing the band’s colours to the mast.
From the past to the future
Clocking in at just 39 minutes, …Envelope… is a textured, eclectic album that doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s no classic - the band are still a better concept than a reality - but is a good listen and suggests that greater things may be round the corner. As for the notion of authenticity, it’s probably a spurious one in these post-modernist times. The only question worth answering is: is it any good? And there is plenty of potential here.
This August saw the British release of the band’s second album Clocks Are Like People. It hasn’t catapulted the band into stardom just yet, but anyone who has waited the best part of a decade for a record deal, and looks like he’s about to set off on the Crusades, is probably not overly concerned with such matters.
Nevertheless, someone who has so single-mindedly ploughed his weird furrow for as long as Tyack has, deserves some reward. The man is a star: the public just doesn’t know it yet.
