The Lick On The Tip Of An Envelope Yet To Be Sent
By Will Hodgkinson, writer, music journalist
Music melts time. From the primordial squelch of creation to the kettledrums of the apocalypse, the music of the universe travels out of its era and into a parallelogram of eternity. Circulus have, pedantically speaking, been performing in and around the London area for the last few years, but the fantastical seven-piece make music as timeless as the soul itself. This album has the history and mysteries of Britain etched into its grooves, and contains pure songs played with passion, wit and more than a hint of despair.
As King Harold breathed his last, medieval wind instrumentalist Will Summers sat perched on the battlements of the doomed monarch’s tumbling Sussex castle and played his rauch pfeifer. While the peasants revolted over the inequalities of the feudal system, the band’s leader Michael Tyack grabbed his cittern and a joint and told the tragic tale of a scarecrow that, running to make it to his field to protect the farmer’s corn before daybreak, stops to light a cigarette and foolishly sets himself on fire. A longhaired beauty freaked out on bad acid at London’s legendary UFO club in 1967 to the sound of master keyboard player Ollie Parfitt’s killer groove, and as the ancients raised stones to the sun and stained their hands with the blood of sacrifice, Circulus’s singer Lo Polidoro wailed her ghostly harmonies and floated three feet above a patch of parched grass nearby.
Circulus provide a beautiful soundtrack to the present, too. My Body Is Made Of Sunlight tells of a woman’s astonishment as the magic plant she has ingested changes her molecular structure, while Power To The Pixies relates the moving tale of an English race of little people that, incapable of peacefully co-habiting in a world of out of town superstores and Ford Mondeos, have been hiding in the forests for the last century or so and preparing for their glorious return. Candlelight is simply a lovely piece of music, with the elegance of Greensleeves and the earthy charm of early 70s folk evoking the pure joy of staring at a candle for hours on end.
Circulus are psychedelic, open-minded and idealistic. The Lick On The Tip Of An Envelope Yet To Be Sent has captured their ethereal power in a tangible form that can be enjoyed on all modern stereo systems. Circulus cannot fail to uplift, entrance, and yes, give meaning to the life of all who embrace them. They didn’t ask for greatness. Divinity blessed them with it.