Keep Hope Alive and Screaming

If post-hardcore still has a creative pulse it sounds like Circle Takes the Square. In 2003 CTTS released As the Roots Undo. They named it an EP despite containing seven tracks and clocking in at over 45 minutes. Things have never sounded the same. As the Roots Undo was a dizzying marriage of screamo and grind composed unlike anything the two genres had ever birthed before. The album was as much poetry as it was sonic dissonance and for all of the usual caustic emotional discharge and brutal technicality there was beauty, absolute beauty. CTTS crafted songs that changed pace and style with such fluid grace and poise that no two minutes of one track sounded like the next; blast beats disappeared into jazz drills and then faded entirely into gentle exotic guitar ambience only to suddenly explode back into skin pealing vocals and grinding instrumentation. And this revolutionary instrumentation was only ever eclipsed by the vocal leadership of the band. CTTS has dual screamers that punctuate their nearly Shakespearean word-play with styles that range from hypnotically interwoven high-pitched shrieks to softly spoken secrets and even a few reverently sung breath-catching anthems. As the Roots Undo changed my view of hard music and it's limitless potential, forever. Unfortunately CTTS may have spoiled us all be raising the bar too high; I’ve yet to find their peer. So believe me when I say that Circle Takes the Square’s next release is my single most anticipated in ANY genre. So I’ve waited for three years and now it seems there are stirrings in quiet shadows of the scene, there is a disturbance in the force… the wait may soon be over… The link below may only be an impromptu jam session, but for those of us waiting on the edges of our seats with eyes wider than crash cymbals this recording is nothing short of glorious. Enjoy. [LIVE.SHOW] Unnamed Song [NEW] [MP3] Circle Takes the Square - Non-Objective Portrait of Karma [MP3] Circle Takes the Square - Crow Quill [THE ‘SPACE] Circle Takes the Square [HOME] Circle Takes the Square