Guitarist and composer
Neal Casal
founded
Circles Around the Sun
after receiving a commission to create incidental music for the
Grateful Dead
's Fare Thee Well concerts.
Rhino
released it as
Interludes for the Dead
the same year and followed it with the funky fusion of 2018's
Let It Wander
and 2019's
Meets Joe Russo
, a jam with the keyboard virtuoso.
Casal
died in 2019 shortly after completing the band's eponymous fourth offering. Bassist
Dan Horne
, drummer
Mark Levy
, and keyboardist
Adam MacDougall
employed a revolving cast of guitarists before hiring
John Lee Shannon
.
The guitarist and composer is a sideman with
Zephaniah Ohora
and Kenny Roby among others. He released fine solo album
In & Of
in 2020. As evidenced by the six-track, 40-minute
Language
, he's a good fit.
Shannon
is never obtrusive or showy. He is fluid and mercurial, a gifted fingerstyle player, a roots stylist, and an intuitive, lyrical soloist whether playing acoustic or electric.
Opener "Third Sunrise Over Gliese 667" is deep psych and nods directly at
Pink Floyd
(think
Atom Heart Mother
and
Meddle
). Swelling organ and a fat bassline set a gently majestic progression as
Levy
paces with rim shots, angular breaks, and reverbed tom-toms.
fingerpicks, adds leads, and eventually, a soaring solo. "The Singularity" is more abstract, saturated with keyboard sounds that include chimes, bells, ringing electric pianos, ambient noise, and percussion loops.
,
, and
Horne
carry the progression's heft as wizard
MacDougall
channels more sounds. It segues into one of the set's finest moments. "Outer Boroughs" opens with a tight wah-wah guitar line that loosely recalls
Frank Zappa
's "Peaches en Regalia" before intersecting with jazzed-up fusion keys, string sounds, plodding bass, and an aggressively shuffling drum kit. In the bridge,
's guitar aping a sitar reintroduces the theme before it gives way to group interplay, complete with funky clavinet that moves far out on the groove ledge. "Away Team" is a spacy, jazz-funk rave-up with interlocking keyboard patterns meeting propulsive, dancing snares, hi-hats, and kick drums.
's gutbucket bassline and
's chunky shuffling frame the spidery keyboard vamp as
pushes the tempo. The end result sounds like
Tangerine Dream
playing space disco backed by the
Atlanta Rhythm Section
. "Wobble" is a showcase for
. Accompanied by a bubbling bassline, four-on-the-floor kick drum, and snare, he intros the tremolo melody with a surf aesthetic and jazz chromatics before dropping in a sunny chordal vamp as the band frames him in fusion, psychedelia, and R&B. The eponymous closer emerges as polished, blissed-out street funk that gets more progressive and spacy before the middle eight. Guest harpist
Mikaela Davis
begins interacting with the rhythm section, then addresses
's spiky vamps and
's carefully layered keyboards delivering ghostly overtones, choppy chords, and a groove that won't quit.
On
CATS
succeeded in creating a new, wide-ranging, seamlessly interactive musical language that underscores their commitment to groove and improvisation. ~ Thom Jurek