Circu5: Clockwork Tulpa

First, let’s get this UK band’s name out the way. “Circu5� is pronounced “circa five,� according to the group. They could have done better given the number of bands with similarly spelled or themed names. And it doesn’t precisely roll off the tongue.

Anyway, this is their second album. Actually, it’s more like their first album, because the debut from 2017 featured only one guy, Steve Tilling. On Clockwork Tulpa he is responsible for lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, and keyboards. He’s joined by Mark Kilminster on bass and backing vocals and Lee Moulding on drums, percussion, and backing vocals. The album also has a handful of guest performers.

In a forum on progarchives following the release of the debut album, Tilling called the music on it as “not ‘prog’ in a wistful pastoral style, or balls out prog metal. More rock with fiddly bits, I suppose.� I think that’s a pretty fair way to describe the follow-up. Except, to be a little more precise, I’d say it’s more like 90s indie meets hard rock with strong angular riffing, played by quite talented musicians. It’s meant to be a concept album. The band says: It brings “to life the story of ‘Grady’: a troubled character molded from birth by the mysterious CIRCU5 organization.� Despite excellent promotional art and liner notes that came from the record company, which hopefully will be available with the physical release, I wasn’t able to grasp that. But sometimes you don’t need to get the “message� to enjoy the album. That was the case for me.

“Don’t Spare Me� is far and away the standout track for me. In only a little more than six minutes it goes through several different mood and tempo changes with interesting playing and generally enjoyable vocals. It’s not a masterful song but, man, it has a lot of hooks throughout. I have a digital copy, so I can see exactly how many times I have played it relative to the others. The answer is more than five times any other track on the album. Granted, I gave all the rest only one to three, but I got hooked on this song on a longish train ride and put it on repeat before even moving on to the final two tracks. That doesn’t happen often to me; I usually play an album all the way through first.

Other good tracks on the album include the opener, “Make No Sound,� which has some heavy guitar juxtaposed with those 90s indie vocals I mentioned earlier; “Freakshow Train,� which is one of the softer tunes on the album but very melodic; and the closer, “Scars,� which has less singing than most tracks and by this point in the album Tilling’s voice had started to wear on me a bit, so that was a welcome relief.

Three singles from the album with videos on YouTube have been released from the album: “Freakshow Train,� “Skin Machine,� and the title track. The entire album will be available March 7. When it is, I think many readers of SoT will find it at least worth a try.

Track Listing
1. Make No Sound (4:17)
2. Sing Now (4:00)
3. Freakshow Train (4:36)
4. Skin Machine (4:26)
5. Infinite Lucid Geometric Fever Dream (5:40)
6. Clockwork Tulpa (2:52)
7. Violet (3:48)
8. Change the Weather (3:19)
9. Don’t Spare Me (6:12)
10. Scars (5:31)
11. Scars (Acoustic Bonus Download) (3:50)

Added: February 22nd 2025
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 626
Language: english

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