| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 8 |
| Interest | 9 |
| Melody | 8 |
| Performance | 9 |
| Lyrics | 8 |
| Enjoyment | 9 |
| Recording Quality | 9 |
| Commercial Appeal | 7 |
| Overall | 8.4 |
Like any community, virtual or otherwise, its inevitable that you will get to know some people. Even old curmudgeons like myself. Being a reasonably approachable guy, over the past four or five years since I came from Usenet newsgroups and started being more of a web prescence, my circle of friends has increased dramatically. From a few hundred people on Usenet, now I know thousands (literally) but - as always - some have become friends and stayed that way. Sean Boyle (aka Black Circles) is one of those and although we drift in and out of each others lives, we always seem to pick up right where we left off. However, Sean being Sean, where we 'left off' is usually him scaring me to death with his music and now he's back for yet more Gilmore baiting..
Not scary?? Mmmm, he IS a founding member of The Dead Company you know....
I've always had a soft spot for this artists work mind, and over the years he has supplied me with some terrifically challenging moments because as strange and 'out there' as TDS and BC's material often is, it's never alienating, at least not in my books. That's got a lot to do with what Sean brings to the party; a classic vocal style that I have yet to hear anyone do better and an unerring knack of knowing how to string a moody peice of music together. It was wonderful then to see this track come up in my MP3 Unsigned list this month. Sean is joined in this pleasant little ditty (eh? surely some mistake?) by Aunia Khan about whom I know nothing - other than the fact that she has a great speaking voice, especially as God - as she is in this remarkable peice of music.
God?? Pleasant little ditty? Aaaaahhh, it must be Black Circles :D Never one to deal with the easy subjects, Black Circles can nonetheless always be relied on to put his words to some classy peices of music and Descending Phonetics is definitely that. A piano led peice that is heartbreakingly cute, with sweeps that merely colour the landscape rather than take it over in a blitzkreig this is probably THE most accessible Black Circles track I have heard in a long, long time. Lyrically, it's a list of phone messages from God to BC but the vocals (to be honest) are the icing on a very, very beautiful cake. As simple as this track is musically, it's effect goes way beyond anything you may have heard from this very idiosyncratic artist before and shows his continuing musical maturity off wonderfully.
Recommended, especially if you like pie-anna peices....
To listen to the track Click Here