Album Review: Circa Waves, T-Shirt Weather

Circa Waves is a British Indie rock band led by frontman Kieran Shudall that came into existence in 2013 Liverpool. After a few moments of static, the music comes in with bright electric guitars and a quick up-tempo beat that has the listener wanting to bounce along with the track. An anthem for millennials, Kieran Shudall’s voice wobbles and rocks through lyrics that nail the hope of a generation still chasing their purpose. Unfortunately the first track is pretty short, barely reaching two minutes, leaving the listener somewhat unfulfilled and reaching for a little more. Luckily, the next song T-Shirt Weather, quickly follows up Young Chasers (and it reaches the perfectly acceptable length of three and a half minutes). It too opens with bright guitars and a quick beat, however T-Shirt Weather feels more nostalgic, almost a “Summer of ‘69” esque anthem, reminiscing over the bright days of futures past. The bubbling music, uplifted by drums and guitars, is somewhat tempered by the nostalgia of the lyrics to create a more interesting and multifaceted song than the one before it.  These first two songs set the tone for the album as a whole, creating a summery vibe with slight undertones of frustration and reminiscence throughout. A flaw of the album as a whole is that it lacks dynamic intent from song to song. All of the songs feel like upbeat with their nuances coming from the lyrics rather than musical differences. There is also a slight disjoint between the lyrics and the music that is presented. The upbeat and bright sounds of guitars and drums at times doesn’t match the occasionally frustrated and angry lyrics.  I would recommend playing ‘T-Shirt Weather’ as a single but not the whole album. Thematically this single would fit in well in-between Death Cab for Cutie and the Arctic Monkeys as a brightening influence, or following some pop rock such as Five Seconds of Summer to bring in more of an Indie flavor and break up the monotony.

-LENA FOELLMER, INTERN