Review Summary: I could never really get into Circa Survive. They always just seemed too downright depressing. But these days I’m pretty downright depressed.
I am very aware of the fact that, at least at this point in my life, I pursue media for the sake of wallowing or escaping. But despite usually listening to this album as something to get lost in, I’ve begun gradually noticing that it’s actually pretty good. The musicianship is subtly impressive. The bass, for example, has many excellent moments. The rhythmic variety, the guitar lines, it all seems pretty well-crafted. Maybe the vocals get a bit monotonous. But that certainly fits the mood of the album. I can’t really figure out what the lyrics are about, but they are usually vaguely depressing enough to satisfy my desire for wallowing.
This review is also a sort of wallowing, but if I were truly just wallowing, I wouldn’t be doing anything. I’m writing this review because I want to believe there’s still something worthwhile to my experience of this album, something that I’d like to share. Maybe it’s sort of inspiring to witness someone feeling what seems to be the same sort of way I’m feeling and making it into art. And not just art that’s self-indulgently and unadornedly dreary (
A Crow Looked at Me comes to mind). Art that it still sorta makes sense to call beautiful.
Honestly though, just look at the closing lyrics to Your Friends Are Gone: “All your friends are gone / Nobody’s here with you / All your friends were wrong / Nobody cares.” What? That’s just embarrassing. But for some reason I listen to it, and not just because I like the way the music sounds. I guess I like witnessing someone “open up” -- maybe the song’s beauty says that there really is some relief in “letting yourself seem vulnerable.” Maybe that’s part of what letting go is about.
