cirKus -Laylow (Tent 2008)

Subtlety is the lifeblood of trip-hop and dub step. Its fathers, techno and hip-hop, are not the subtlest of art forms, nor are they meant to be. While cirKus has delivered a solid album, with good production, the product seems more like an improvised Frankenstein of different musical subtexts. While the creature is, technically, what you wanted, you’d much rather listen to the specific aspects than the whole conglomeration. Laylow, ultimately lacks the refinement of its contemporaries (early Massive Attack, Burial, etc.).
Dj Kamil (a.k.a. Matt Kent) and Burt Ford (a.k.a. Bogga Bear) use the contrast between acoustic picking, drum machines, and record spinning to great effect in the actual production of this album. The title track is ethereal, with a beautiful drumming track, as well as impressive backing vocals. Yet, as with most of the songs in this album, the vocals fail. The lyrics are poorly written (see You’re such an……), and lack the subtlety, or for that matter the abstraction, that it could.
The songs have similar structures, and there is a very defined aesthetic to this band. Most of the songs have moments of brilliance, such as the chorus of “Ruff Turf,” and the middle of “Time for the Whistle.” Yet there is always some aspect, usually vocally, that you wish you could eliminate. Those vocals are usually the hip-hop ones that the female sings (the band refused to give contributors names away because it has “fuck all to do with music” so “female sings” will have to do). The production is ultimately what carries this band past mediocre, but not that far past.
Not to mention that the range of the album is limited. The songs have some distinction, yet the structure of the songs generally remains the same. The songs all blend together and are almost unrecognizable, especially because the vocals are consistent through most of the album. This wouldn’t be a problem if there were adequate transitions between songs (see Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colors), but the songs attempt to stand on their own. The beauty of trip/hop and electronic music in general is that you have limitless instrumentation and vocal capabilities; it would have been nice to hear different structures, and vocals. However, as is the case with a lot of this genre, the songs lack a specific identity, and, because they lack the “duuf” “duuf” of their forefathers, they aren’t really infectious enough to keep you interested for the entire four minutes.
Ultimately, while this album has moments of uncanny production, it falls flat on the execution of the actual songs. The lack of subtlety makes this album seem contrived, even though for all intensive purposes it isn’t.


For fans of:
Burial, Massive Attack, Portishead, Unkle

Fox-o-meter 6.3 Missed opportunities outta 10