Circa Waves - What's It Like Over There? (Album Review)

One of the most radio-friendly faces in terms of modern indie pop, Circa Waves have been releasing music very regularly and have succeeded in gaining a respectable fanbase, no doubt a result of frequent airplay and extensive festival slots in what appears more and more like a bid for popularity. Indeed, it is pretty undeniable that since their 2015 debut Young Chasers, sonically a very typical summery indie album that was always fun and lighthearted but lacked the depth of more profound writers, the credit of more established acts or the sonic pallet of more advanced or complex bands, just more above-average indie landfill in a market that has been oversaturated since the 90s: They were a cute, new, talented but ultimately indistinguishable band that had no real place in the musical landscape of the mid-2010s.

Then came their heavier, better produced followup Different Creatures, a more distinguished piece that definitely followed some of Royal Blood's heavier riffs just as they were releasing their own second album, but Circa Waves did so in a more underrated and yet more dynamic and solid way; for whilst Royal Blood had little to show for progressions from their own debut, Circa Waves captured the enthusiasm and earnest delivery that was so captivating on their debut and put it to poppier yet darker tunes, with more developed songwriting and a knack for structure and precision that Royal Blood really lacked with the majority of songs on their sophomore. In short, the band very respectfully created a more true and fun form of their expressionism and set the groundwork for further releases in a similar direction. So, with all that in mind, what did they deliver on What's It Like Over There??

Well, straight off the back, they give us the title track, a song more pointless that a bladeless sword (please excuse the pun and just appreciate that at least it was better than any pencil joke i could have made). To be honest, this 20 second atmospheric piece is just irrelevant in anything other than perhaps separating their previous albums from this one and should really have extended to some sort of climax to make some kind of point particularly if that had included the burbling synthesizers that characterise most of these songs. Anyway, this will be irrelevant to my opinion because it just doesn't really count for anything. Onward!

"Sorry I'm Yours" is a pretty unfortunate indicator of the very simple lyrical patterns found all over this album, small personal touches that seem only to fill space, sound good and not really say anything of substance. Don't get me wrong, during the final climax of the song it's reasonably enjoyable, the guitar riffs properly dominating the mix as they should rather than sounding swampy somewhere in the middle as they do for the majority of this song. It just seems as though the band are striving for a grandiose, epic sound and use these loud but flavourless guitars to do so, and the result is incredibly dreary, underwhelming and badly produced, especially when you factor in its other issues. Strange, fluttery synths and piano keys add little to the drive of this track, but make for an interesting yet out of place keys solo that essentially takes away from any rawness they were trying to create in the first place. The problem here is just the lack of focus, something that the piano-driven "Times Won't Change Me" succeeds in leaving behind, resulting in an impressive and superior song. Whilst NME branded this as "pure radio fodder" and one of the prime examples of the "dreary piano pop" that the album is, I would argue that this is one of the most earnest performances of their career. In my opinion, the ultra-catchy piano riffs back a lyrically fascinating and provocative song that evades the bluntness of call-out culture and the frustratingly obvious and unsubtle attempts to speak truths like on "Saviour", but instead manages to give out some of their best lines and stand defiantly triumphant in a thankfully non-obnoxious way. Kieran Shudall, the band's lead vocalist, says it best in the line "we cut the corners/cut the labels from our necks", exemplifying the sonic alterations of the band and the necessary changes to be made in society regarding acceptance, adaptation and understanding, in terms of the pointless classifications and "lables" of religion, media, race, orientation and genre. This is the first great song on the album, regardless of how sensibly poppy it may be; after all, there's no gain in being snobby to pop music when it says as much and sounds as good as this.

We move onto perhaps the liveliest and most unchanged sounding song on the album, "Movies" serving as the perfect possible lead single to the album and delivering a refreshing taste of clarity and fun, just as the band did on their debut. Whilst you could argue this is not in character for the album, both sonically and thematically, it introduces an extended movie-based metaphor that continues and is contrasted by the clever "Me Myself & Hollywood" in its respective allusions to the control and darkness of the film industry and, given the topics of "Times Won't Change Me", probably extends to other industries and issues too. Whilst "Movies" is this whole in-spite-of celebration that moves your feet as apposed to your mind, when paired with "Hollywood" we are given a perfect contrast between the unrealistic highs and the sarcastic, self-obsessed and misleading lows. Neither of these songs are amazing on their own, and the instrumental feels a bit uninspired, particularly on the latter where it somewhat works in terms of the themes but provides an unfortunate drop in quality for the most part from the two previous songs. What "Hollywood" does have going for it is its guitars which, however flat they can seem, captivate my attention and keep me coming back to this song.

Following this is arguably the album's most notable flop in the form of "The Way We Say Goodbye", using a very overdone acoustic bombast feel that could be a weaker Adele instrumental or, on the area I concede to agree with NME for, sounding almost identical to almost any Kodaline song and displaying the least diverse side of indie music to the point where, in fact, I start to wonder if I was too quick to praise previous tracks but no... I stand by by opinion on them because they were able to achieve their point and not come across as pretentious like on "Sorry I'm Yours" or as unforgivingly untextured and plain as on this weightless crescendo of a track. Speaking of weight and crescendos, the next song "Be Somebody Good" is, aside from overly-repetitive, one of the best songs here. Despite being a bit of a bit of a predictable indie-rock effort, I can't help but admire the softness of the opening in comparison to the expressive chorus and chaotic guitar solo. This song carries its weight and momentum in a strong way, but I can't deny it could easily have been accentuated by a more extensive solo section, perhaps with a build to the bass as opposed to the admittedly energetic shock of when it first kicks in for the first chorus. Essentially I think it should have developed its themes a bit, feeling a little underachieving at the end after some genuinely exciting moments in the song.

Divisions will be made with the extremely lightweight "Passport", a rather unambitious and dull delve into further piano pop that is especially underwhelming in its incredibly simplistic and flat sounding keys. It is probably more peppy than most piano ballads in this style although its lyrics do nothing for the band and they really are at their least expressive here, to the point where Circa Waves become once again the most indistinguishable band out there. The worst part is, there are times when this wispy lane of synthpop can work, take The Postal Service's "Give Up" or even some of Owl City's earlier works, but Circa Waves seem only able to sound weak and utterly uninteresting in this lane. Rant over, now let's move onto the next song on the album which is incidentally Taylor Swift's "Style"...
Yeah, just kidding, although "Motorcade" does draw certain comparisons to multiple pop/rock songs that sound nearly identical to this. It's not bad, and the final moments do help to make the song at least worthwhile, but it wouldn't be a standout on a better album. There's honestly not much more to say, and anyway "Saviour" is a much more interesting song to discuss. Much like "Times Will Change Me" and many of the tracks on Different Creatures, the strengths of this song are primarily in the lyrics and the framing, for as sweet as that Led Zeppelin-esque guitar is, it should really explode more in the second half of the song to allow the weight of the writing to pay off. I'll admit, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it but the fact is more that I was longing for something as heavy as on their previous album and was pleasantly surprised to find that, in addition to this, the lyrics have also finally stepped up and shown this band can make a point both lyrically and instrumentally and serves as yet another demonstration as to how infrequent it seems they succeed in both.

In conclusion, as fun as this album could be, I found myself continuously frustrated at how basic the instrumentation, dynamics, lyrics and pacings were. Listening to What's It Like Over There?, I just kept thinking of what it's like elsewhere in more interesting and fulfilling albums. I would not really recommend this album to anyone, except perhaps those enamoured with simplistic pop-rock to the point where any content superior to Imagine Dragons and Bastille must be godlike indeed, or to fans of the band willing to sit through far too many disappointments just for the occasional fragments of quality and excitement provided on a frightful few of these tracks. Yeah, this isn't a very good album and I sincerely wish that Circa Waves would go back to their earlier sounds which sound all the more sweet and fresh after what is undeniably the lowest point of their career thus far. It may have taken me far too long to put this review out, but I have really strained and tried to look for interesting subtext that just isn't there. Overall, and rather disappointingly, I have to give this album a strong 4 out of 10.

Best Songs:
Times Won't Change Me; Movies; Be Somebody Good; Saviour

Worst Song/s:
Sorry I'm Yours; The Way We Say Goodbye; Passport; What's It Like Over There?

"What's It Like Over There?"

Circa Waves

05/04/2019