Circles End
Hang on to That Kite

The Circles End are a Norwegian band, authors in 2001 of "In Dialogue With The Moon," an excellent debut album that clearly hinted at their remarkable artistic potential, and I strongly encourage you to try to find it. Three years later, the band reappears with this "Hang On To That Kite," which is appreciated at the level of the previous album if not more, thanks to the greater maturity the band has achieved, which is reflected in the compositions that become even more solid and balanced.

The nine tracks offered, totaling a little over 40 minutes, are full of crimson influences, although the most fitting comparison could be represented by a less extreme version of the Swedish band Anekdoten, aided by the similarity in the vocal timbres of the two singers. Of course, there are some slightly schizoid moments as well as melancholic ones, but everything remains less exacerbated than in Anekdoten, so we always remain quite distant from both the gloom of "Vemod" and the harshness of "Nucleus." The tracks that deviate most from this style are the second track, "Tiny Lights," which seems like an out-take from Echolyn's "Suffocating The Bloom," and the closing track "The Dogfather Has Entered The Lift," an intriguing instrumental rich in South American influences and jazz fusion echoes in which sax interventions can be heard. A pleasant confirmation.