Style: Avant garde psychadelic jazz fusion (Instrumental)
Review by: Nick
Country: US-FL
Release date: 02 April, 2021
Odd Circus is an avant garde improv trio out of Florida who just released a short EP of crazy psychedelic jazz fusion. This marks their third release with the other two being a full length album and a compilation of sorts, the latter seemingly being exclusive to Bandcamp. Avant garde is kind of an odd genre for me in that it tends to be extremely hit or miss, but Mantha diverts that.
When this release was first shared in our staff group chat I was immediately suckered in by the artwork. As a lover of all things Lovecraftian and a lover of all things avant garde I couldn’t help but give it a shot. What I was greeted with was a brief static filled opening before being smacked in the face with pure groovy chaos. It felt like I was unknowingly thrust into some weird CIA drug experiment.
Despite the almost panic attack inducing intensity, my first few listens to this album were actually really fun. The songs are very noodly and that noodling can be hypnotic. Each part playing its own improvised line makes it so that if you get bored of one instrument you can jump to another. This is a testament to the good production, which can be hard to achieve when you have so much going on in the mix. To make a wall of sound without it becoming muddied or overwhelming is something even some of the biggest bands can’t do well, so props to them for that.
Another positive here is that while each song doesn’t drastically differ from the next in terms of their sound and general vibe, they do so in a way that keeps it engaging throughout the short 25 minutes. Those 25 minutes, however, bring up one of the few issues I take with this EP and one of the difficulties I have breaking each song down individually. The way that they all flow together seamlessly in an ever evolving fashion makes it difficult to really single out a track to individually describe. The only two tracks that I find really stand out from the chaos would be “Wendigo” which acts as a slight reprieve from the absolute utter chaos (even though it’s chaotic in its own more mellow way) and “Djinn” which acts a sort of funky atmospheric closer.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun and exhilarating listen, but this lack of variety can make it a little exhausting on repeat listens. One of the downsides to improv as well is that it lacks the intricate composition that often makes albums fun to relisten to and dive deeper into. There’s no questioning why a decision was made, because the answer here will always boil down to “because it felt right”. I found myself fatigued by my fourth listen or so. I quickly went from thinking this was the hottest shit to thinking it’s just okay. And that’s really a bummer, because I was so hyped about this release.
Overall we’re left with a suite of songs that shows a lot of potential, but isn’t quite there yet. I looked back on their debut after becoming familiar with this release and their growth between the two is already something to be applauded. It takes a while to find your sound and whereas their debut felt like throwing everything at the wall and seeing what stuck, this EP felt like they were really finding their footing. From the press I’ve seen surrounding this EP it looks like they have some more releases planned so I’m excited to see where they go from here.
Recommended tracks: The whole thing
Recommended for fans of: Behold… The Arktopus but in space
Final verdict: 6.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Instagram | Twitter
Label: Independent
Odd Circus is:
– Graham Robertson (saxophones, fx)
– Partin Whitaker (drums)
– Crews Carter (bass, fx)
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