Circle of One
The Loud Minority EP

Right, I’m on a roll today, and not one made of bread, butter substitute and Dairylea. So following a quick cup of tea, toilet break and moderate peril, Circle of One goes in the stereo… and then I turn it on… dammit.

Okay! ‘State of Grace’ gets started straight away, no messing. Good start. I’m sure they can feel the bass in Newport y’know, it’s not heavy, just ‘intense’. But that wouldn’t fully describe it still, it ebbs and flows, and you can see why The Wildhearts are quoted in the ‘For Fans of’ section of the press release.

It’s very much in the vein of mid-nineties rock, which is not a bad thing. The guitar solo in the middle sounds out of place, but that’s part of the charm. It really does cover such a wide sonic spectrum that you really have no idea what they are going to do next.

‘Live B4 U Die’ again starts off with plenty of energy before slowing down for the verse. Nice catchy lyrics abound and then the pitch ramps up a notch ready for the chorus.

I can see why they have been likened to lots of bands, they do have a variance in sound which gives them their own sound (kinda) and hard to pigeonhole, and that’s good! There is something strangely catchy about them, and each song has an underlying vein of energy which carries you through.

‘Automatic’ is probably my stand-out track, punchy, lively and has some really nice breaks which just make you ‘air-drum’ summat chronic. Their riffs are real nice and chunky when they want to be, and quiet and melodic when it’s called for as well. The solo is just manic, like the Duracell bunny on speed.

‘Unify’ is the final track and starts off a lot more sedately than its predecessors. It sparks into life for the chorus and is very Audioslave-like in sound.

Definitely impressed, it reminded me of a lot of bands that I used to listen to over the past ten years or so. Categorise them at your peril, as they would probably come back with an opera, using only scrapey fish and spoons.