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thisaintascenereviews · 1 year

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Circa Survive - Two Dreams

Late last year, the alternative scene was dealt a blow in the form of Circa Survive announcing their hiatus. If you don't know, that's a very important band in that world, as they're one of the pioneering bands of the mid-00s post-hardcore sound that took the genre into a somewhat progressive-rock direction. Thanks to their first couple of albums, a lot of bands went in that direction, such as Emarosa, Hands Like Houses, I The Mighty, and tons more, but they were at the forefront of it. Anthony Green, their vocalist, is also known as being the first singer of Saosin, another important band in the post-hardcore band. He came back to the band in 2018, too, but he was only on their debut EP from 2003. I say all of this, because one, there might be some people that don't know who they are, and second, I was never the biggest fan of this band, but their influence and importance is without question. Regardless of how you feel, they're an important band, and I've always been able to at least appreciate them. I like a couple of their records, especially 2007's On Letting Go, and 2010's Blue Sky Noise, but I just never have been able to get into anything else, thanks to how all of their stuff sounds the same to me. Even Green's newest band, LS Dunes, sounds like a retread of 00s post-hardcore, and not in a particularly interesting way. It was a solid album, but I didn't care too much for it, at least as much as other people did. Maybe I'm just not as crazy about that sound, but Circa Survive also released a new album, sort of.

Two Dreams is comprised of both EPs they released in 2021 and the beginning of 2022, entitled A Dream Of Love and A Dream Of Death. They just condensed them to a single record, mainly for vinyl release, I'm pretty sure, but I thought I'd check it out, just to see what the band has been up to since I last listened to them years ago. Honestly, I was quite surprised with what I found, because this is unlike they've ever done. This wouldn't have made it onto my yearend list if it had came out a few weeks beforehand, as this came out on the 16th of last month, and I did my list in the beginning of the month, but I don't love it that much to where I'd want to put it on there in retrospect, but this is really good. They went more in an indie route for this record, incorporating more indie, alternative, and even some synth-pop for this record. It's strange, but it oddly works. The album is very accessible, catchy in spots, and more experimental for them. It's not what you'd expect, and I can see a lot of fans that love the "older stuff" to be disappointed by this, because of how strange it is, but I don't know. It's kind of weird, but it's also catchy at the same time, so it's not like it's avant-garde. One song straight up has a synth melody in it, and it's the whole song, not just a part of it, or anything like that. It's like Circa Survive gone synth-pop, and it's kind of cool. With that said, though, this record is way too long, even for being two EPs. It's almost an hour, and with the record having a similar sound throughout it, it runs together. It's a bit too long, so I've only wanted to get a few listens out of this.

If anything, I've grown to appreciate this band more, because of how different this sounds compared to their other material, and it shows that even in the end, they wanted to change their sound, but because they could. They could have easily put out similar stuff, and fans would have eaten it up, but this is a bit different. I do have to say, too, that Green sounds great here. His vocals have gotten into the habit of sounding the same on every song lately, but he sounds different and revitalized here. Maybe it's the catchier melodies, or the synth-pop sound, but it sounds better, and he sounds like he's having a good time. Circa Survive has always been a band that I respect more than I like, although I do like them, and while it's sad to see them go for now, this is a good swansong. It's a little too long in spots, but it's a solid record. It's worth hearing if you're a fan, but if you're new to them, I don't know if I'd start with this. This is pretty different from their biggest material, so to speak. It's not a bad thing, but it's a far cry from their earlier material, so you might want to start with some of their earlier material first, and then move onto this, or vice versa. Check this out, see if you like it, and if you do, listen to their other material, because you may like that more, or you may like this more. I don't know, but one thing I do know is that this record is good. I'm happy I heard it, even if I don't feel like coming back to it that much, where it's so long, and it doesn't feel like it pays off in the end, just for how each song sounds the same. At least it's not their pseudo-progressive post-hardcore sound where it kind of got a bit pretentious after awhile, and it got sort of irritating, because it didn't do anything interesting, or lead to anything, but anyway, this is worth hearing, nonetheless. It'll be sad to see these guys go, but this is a good album to see them bow out to.

#circa survive #anthony green #ls dunes #two dreams #post-hardcore #metalcore #i the mighty #hands like houses #emarosa #rise records

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