Circa Survive’s new tunes shock and awe

Fabricated by the creative genius of Anthony Green and Colin Frangicetto, the duo wrote the first of an impressive portfolio of songs long before a record deal or a band had ever materialized.

Now, a year later, backed by a record deal and band, the pair offers “Juturna,” a well-crafted album that brings together the best of a five-piece group that employs Green’s vocal talents and Frangicetto’s frantic guitar work, along with the veteran songwriting skills of Nick Beard, Steve Clifford and Brendan Ekstrom, to create 11 solid tracks.

A well-written and conceived piece of work, “Juturna” carries itself on its own musical merits, but it is Green’s dynamic voice that truly makes this disc one of the best (and most anticipated) releases of the year.

Perched above a perfect mix of post hardcore rock 'n' roll beats and slick effect-infested guitar, Green’s sky-scraping vocals soothe the senses while offering enough of a bite to keep the listener on edge. From faint whisperings on “Stop the Fucking Car” to shrill screams on “The Glorious Nosebleed,” Green hovers pitch perfect, blasting out each note with greater intensity than the one before.

One of the album’s best tracks, “We’re All Thieves” showcases Green’s talent for turning an otherwise ordinary arrangement into something truly extraordinary. A flurry of strings and some impressive guitar work help move this song along to it’s magnificent conclusion, all the while highlighting Green’s voice as he croons in such an inspiring sequence of lows and highs that I can’t resist smiling at the thought of this guy belting out verses on stage. It is Green's appetite to shock and awe the listener by breaking the boundaries of convention that will keep this disc spinning on repeat.

The band’s first single “Act Appalled” is one of the disc’s finest offerings, and is perhaps the best indicator of Circa Survive’s potential to write interesting, thoughtful music. The track takes the best of the band's roaming guitar licks, crunchy distortion and shifting rhythms, and melds them with Green's stunning vocal melodies to produce an abstract masterpiece all its own. The song, which leads on the earlier four-song release “The Inuit Sessions,” offers a heart-pounding entry to the CD’s rowdier tracks, but seems a little out of place on the full length, sitting second in line to the album’s slow-paced opener “Holding Someone’s Hair Back.”

Brian McTernan (Thrice, Cave In, Hot Water Music) does a nice job smoothing out the edges on “Always Getting What You Want” and “Wish Resign.” “The Great Golden Baby,” another song that appears on the band's earlier release, fits in nicely on this disc and is perhaps the band’s most inspired track.

Headbangin’-heavy Equal Vision proudly promotes this band's freshman release with gorgeous packaging and artwork, a telling sign that the label expects these guys to go big.

But “Juturna” does lag at times. “Meet Me in Montauk” is an odd acoustic ditty that rambles for 10 minutes before extending into a secret end track. It is at moments like these that Circa Survive seems to move into unfamiliar territory.

But it is during the moments that the boys of Circa Survive seem the most lost that they are able to find themselves, quickly displacing any doubt that they had ever lost their footing in the first place.

For more information on Circa Survive, visit: http://www.circasurvive.com/.

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