Via Nocturna (Portugal) In-Depth Interview with Circuline
Thank you so much, Pedro Carvalho and Via Nocturna (Portugal) for this in-depth interview!
Translated and reprinted in full here below:
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After two studio albums and two live albums, and after a long and arduous work that has been underway since 2018, Circuline have released their new studio album: CORE ( Circuline Original Reimagined Evolving ). And this is the core of Circuline – a prog rock that does not seek virtuosic displays of galactic abilities, but always with the focus on melody and emotion. And it was precisely this core of the American band (Andrew Colyer, Natalie Brown and Darin Brannon) that came together to explain to us in detail the genesis of this new album.
Hello everyone, thanks for your time. Congratulations on the release of CORE ! What was the creative process for this album like, especially considering the changes in the band’s lineup?
ANDREW COLYER (AC) : After our 2017 touring season, which included a performance at Prog on the Ranch in Florida, a UK tour supporting IOEarth and the ProgStock Festival , we immediately started working on new material for this album in January 2018. I had offers to make albums and perform live with rock band Cell15 , progressive metal band Awaken , Frank Wyatt ’s last solo album ( Happy The Man, Oblivion Sun ) and to tour North America with Robert Berry ’s band 3.2 , covering all those amazing keyboard parts by Keith Emerson , Rick Wakeman and Jordan Rudess , all while singing background harmonies. So I was very busy between 2018 and 2022, plus we had the global pandemic. So the writing process for Circuline was slow. In the summer of 2018, we had a week where guitarist Alek Darson and bassist Matt Dorsey were here in the studio writing with me, Darin Brannon , Natalie Brown , and original founding member Billy Spillane . It was great, and we captured several days of jamming and song ideas. Over time, people’s other commitments, creative differences, and life circumstances dictated lineup changes. Matt Dorsey played live shows with us in 2014, played bass and mixed on the first Circuline album (2015), and played guitar on our second studio album (2016). Matt worked with us as bassist, vocalist, and songwriter from 2018 to 2022, while I helped him with his solo album. Matt got involved in touring with ProgJect , which took his time, as did his burning desire to finish his first solo album and start performing live under his own name. At that point, we recruited Shelby Logan Warne , who brought a fresh perspective to the bass department. Matt is credited with songwriting contributions to two songs on this album. Alek Darson is an incredible talent as a guitarist and producer, but his favorite band of all time is Dream Theater., and we realized during the writing and arranging process that it wasn’t the right fit, so unfortunately we had to part ways. Luckily we were able to find one of the top five guitarists in the world for our genre, the fantastic Dave Bainbridge . Dave’s writing and arranging experience with The Strawbs , Lifesigns , Downes-Braide Association ( DBA ) , his own band IONA , and his solo career – has been invaluable, with his multi-layered guitar parts, soaring leads , and keyboard contributions. Founding member Billy Spillane worked on the writing and arranging of this album from 2018 to 2021, when he decided, for personal reasons, it was time to move on. Billy is credited in the liner notes, where his lyrics and background vocals were retained for the album. The majority of the songwriting was done by myself, Darin Brannon and Natalie Brown . We spent countless hours creating, perfecting, writing, rewriting, arranging and recording multiple versions of each song, with input from Dave and Shelby. We are very happy with the final product. And having electric violinist Joe Deninzon ( Kansas , Stratospheerius ) as a guest artist is the icing on the cake!
DARIN BRANNON (DB) : It’s always different on each record. But on all three records the one thing that hasn’t changed is the core members of the band: Andrew, Natalie and myself. Through that and a few years of life, a pandemic, we’ve all grown up and ended up sharing that through the songs on this record. We’ve had some help along the way, with Billy Spillane , Alek Darson and, of course, Matt Dorsey .
This title, CORE , actually has a meaning – Circuline Original Reimagined Evolving . This is a title that says it all about the band, right?
NATALIE BROWN (NB) : Yes. The core of the band, where we started, is still intact. Andrew, Darin and myself. There have been a lot of personnel changes that have shaped our growth, certainly, but the foundation has remained the same. And yet we are open to evolution.
This album can be considered as your most diverse and modern work to date. Can you talk more about the musical and lyrical themes explored in CORE ?
AC : Some of the musical themes came about during collaborative improvisation sessions in 2018-2019. Some of the musical parts came from dreams I had. Other musical parts came from Darin, Natalie, Billy (when he was still with us), and myself going through different chord changes and melodies during the writing process. I did my best to make sure that each song had some sort of musical hook and a “payoff” climax to the song’s arrangement.
NB : I’m a social worker by profession and a therapist who cares about social justice issues. When I write, I tend to start with a set of poems and then extract what I want for song lyrics. A lot of my poetry is informed by what’s going on in the world, and I care about diversity, inclusion and equality. Musically, we wanted to appeal to a wider audience than just traditional progressive rock fans, and this seemed like a good time to explore all of that.
DB : One of the main differences between this record and our previous ones was that we took on the responsibility of writing the lyrics and melodies without any outside help. This is where Natalie stepped up to the plate and did a great job of coming up with the words. Andrew and I both contributed our own lyrics to certain songs, but Natalie drove the lyrical content.
Circuline’s music can be described as modern cinematic rock . How do you balance maintaining your signature sound while continually evolving with each album?
AC : I think the signature sound comes from the way I write music with Darin, and the vocal sound comes from the way Natalie and I (and Billy on the first two albums) arrange the vocals. I’m very conscious of trying to write chord changes that we’ve never done before. Darin is very conscious of writing song rhythms that aren’t clichés, and he always strives to create new drum parts or grooves that he’s never played or heard before. Darin is also the “encyclopedia of prog ,” so if we have something he’s heard before, we have to work on it to make it something that’s uniquely ours. We usually write with the piano or electric piano as a base, then I add other keyboard sounds. Occasionally we’ll write with guitar parts on a MIDI keyboard, but we usually leave that to the guitarist. With my classical training and love of film scores and Foley effects , I always look for opportunities to incorporate elements of symphonic orchestration and sound design into the songs. I’ve heard a keyboard player say that “if it doesn’t have a Hammond organ , Mellotron and Minimoog , it’s not prog ”. I don’t agree with that. To me, that attitude makes every song, and every album, sound the same, stuck in the 1970s. Isn’t “ progressive rock ” supposed to progress? Every year I invest in more hardware keyboards, synthesizers and software instruments , and I do my best to create custom sound palettes that are unique to each song. Every song is different, so shouldn’t it sound different? The only way to sound modern is to incorporate classic and modern sounds into the music. When we have guitarists and bassists in the room with us, that’s our preferred way to compose. Due to lineup changes, that hasn’t always been possible, which is why the three of us are the core of the band. Many bands throughout history have had lineup changes that have contributed to the change in the band’s sound, and I think we had a similar situation. So for us, the lineup changes, although stressful , have also been a kind of “forced growth” that progresses with each album.
DB : I think one of the lessons I’ve learned on my musical journey is that you write music that comes from within you. Trying too hard to write a specific type of music that might not be in your comfort zone can lead to frustration, at least for me. We’re all influenced by very different styles and that translates into our own musical views. Andrew has a huge knowledge of how to write chord changes, how to transition from one section to the next or maybe a tempo change here or there. Being a drummer and keyboardist, I tend to write more percussive keyboard parts. Even using patterns that I use around the drums on the keyboards. So with all of these elements and the fact that we still want to be in the prog rock genre , we end up having lyrical melodic parts sectioned off with musical explorations with weird meters and slightly uneven chord changes.
One of the tracks, Blindside , has been highlighted for its emotional depth and soul / gospel- influenced vocal work . Can you tell us more about how this song came about and its significance on the album?
AC : Since Matt Dorsey has been an “honorary and quasi-band member” since Circuline ’s inception in 2014, and I’ve been a part of his solo album and live band, I’ve been personally aware of his enormous talent for a long time. Matt’s songwriting is excellent. When working with him in 2017, we were going through all the songs he had for potential inclusion on his first solo album. Blindside was a rough 2-minute demo he had that didn’t make the cut. Every time I heard it, I got goosebumps and said, “That’s a great song! If you’re not going to use it, can we keep it for Circuline ?” He said yes, and I started working on the bridge /lead guitar section, and the payoff , all the way to the anthemic final chorus. Growing up in the late 70s and 80s, I came to progressive rock late in life, having been raised on American Top 40 radio , classical and jazz music , and film soundtracks. One of my favorite producers is 15-time Grammy winner David Foster , who has produced countless power ballads over the past 40 years. I also love many of the rock bands of the 70s and 80s ( Journey , Styx , Kansas ) who had power ballads as part of their AOR hit catalog , and this is our power ballad for the album. Dave Bainbridge created the Brian May -esque guitar solo at the end, while Natalie Brown sang the soulful vocal riff .
DB : Most of the credit goes to Matt Dorsey for letting us take his short demo and make it our own. It’s a powerful song with moving lyrics and a huge chorus at the end… a real anthem!
In songs like Tempus Horribilis and Transmission Error , there is a strong narrative and cinematic quality. How did you approach mixing these elements with your progressive rock roots?
AC : For this album, in an effort to capture more fans through our crossover nature, we consciously chose to have some songs be longer narrative, “progressive in nature” songs, and some songs be shorter, more traditional pop-rock songs. During the writing and arranging process, we decide, or let the music decide, what kind of song it’s going to be. I gathered at least 20 songs for this album, and then chose the best eight that I thought would fit well on two sides of vinyl, at about 45 minutes (although it ended up being longer, and we haven’t released the vinyl record yet). The two songs you asked about are definitely more progressive, and the narrative quality comes from Natalie Brown ’s social justice poetry . She goes through intermittent creative periods of “brain dumping,” where she simply captures, through a stream of consciousness, a lot of words and thoughts on paper. For the longer songs, I’m the “band librarian” who sifts through all the various musical parts and song ideas, noting down tempos and key changes, and then “Frankensteins” them all together on the computer for initial arrangements. Sometimes Natalie’s poetry fits as lyrical content over pre-existing instrumental sections, or sometimes her words dictate images that I write around to fit the mood of what she’s written. Darin, Natalie, and I go through the song drafts to refine the arrangements, lyrical content, and melody lines. As I’m putting together the skeletons of the song structures and the arrangements are evolving, I often hear things that I think will fit from a sound design perspective . I start by going through my massive sound library, creating a “sound palette” that matches the mood of the song, or layering in rhythms and orchestral textures. For Tempus Horribilis , Darin had a nine-note groove he wrote when he was 13 years old! That’s where the first part of the song came from. For Transmission Error , I had been listening to Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan and Russian classical- prog pianist Gleb Kolyadin , and dreamed of integrating odd bars between my two hands. That’s where the parts of the song came from. Many hours of discussion and experimentation with arrangements in the studio is what you hear in the final product.
DB : The great thing about writing progressive rock- inspired songs is that the sky’s the limit. As long as you have good writers who can creatively lead the listener from one section to the next… you’re in luck. It’s almost like putting together a puzzle ; as a writer, you can decide to put this vocal part there, this instrumental part here, and after a while, you end up with an epic 10-minute song (hopefully) like Transmission Error or even Tempus Horribilis , which was basically derived from a 9/8 drum pattern I learned when I was thirteen.
The album was recorded in various locations in the United States and England. How did these different environments influence the recording process and the final sound of CORE ?
AC : We’re very fortunate in the 21st century to now have modern recording capabilities that allow us to record professionally in almost any environment and capture quality performances that can be shared online ! Ideally, we always wanted to have everyone in the same room, writing and recording together, old-school style , but that wasn’t always possible. When the pandemic hit and we were in lockdown, we took the opportunity to complete Phase II of the refurbishment of our recording studio, The Cave , which included new vocal mics, a new computer with 64GB of RAM and a new 32-input mixing console. Darin got new drums, cymbals, drum heads and a drum rack , so the drum sounds are great. My keyboards are recorded directly into the computer, and Natalie and I had plenty of space and time to record all the lead and background vocals. Shelby is the proud new co-owner of Sensible Studios in London, and with her experience as a recording engineer, her bass tracks sound great. Dave Bainbridge is a music industry veteran with recording studios in both the US and the UK, so his tracks always sound flawless. Joe Deninzon recorded his violin tracks in hotel rooms while on tour with Kansas ! Robert Berry did a fantastic job mixing the album in California, and the mastering by Rainer Gembalczyk at Sienna Digital put the finishing touches on the record.
DB : It’s a really great time to be able to create and record music with the technology that’s available. We couldn’t have made this record without it. Since Andre, Natalie and I are based in the New York area and Shelby is overseas and Dave is in another state, getting together to write and record would have been too time-consuming and cost a fortune. That said, it’s a joy to be in the same room with each other and feed off each other’s different energies and ideas. A lot of the basic pieces and parts were created that way, with everyone in the room together at the beginning of the process, but with personnel changes we had to switch and ended up sending files to Dave and Shelby. So thank you Dropbox and any other modern services we used to complete this record.
Given your previous successes, including a Prog Award nomination and a growing global fan base, what are your expectations for CORE in terms of fan reception and critical acclaim?
AC : My goal for this album was to have a “Championship Season”. So far, it seems to be going well. We have five times more pre-orders for the CDs than we ever have before. Our YouTube subscribers are up 40%. Our Spotify numbers have tripled. The feedback from critics and radio DJs has been amazing, saying things like “the best album ever” and “one of the best albums of the year”. Every day we have more and more people we don’t know from all over the world leaving positive comments on social media and referring their friends. This is exactly what we were hoping for and we are grateful to wonderful people like you for these types of interviews!
NB : Cautiously optimistic! Some people don’t like bands with female vocals, and we’ve heard from them before, but overall the response so far has been extremely positive.
DB : Fingers crossed. You never know when you’re in the middle of a project how the public will appreciate the effort… so fingers crossed!
You included contributions from guest artists such as Joe Deninzon, William “Billy” Spillane and Alek Darson on this album. How did these collaborations come about and what do they add to the overall CORE experience ?
AC : As mentioned, Billy Spillane was a founding member of the band, working with us from 2014 to 2021. Alek Darson guest-guitared and mixed on Counterpoint , toured with us, and played live and mixed on CircuLive::NewView . His contributions were invaluable during the initial writing and arranging sessions for the record, and we are grateful for his contributions. Electric violinist Joe Deninzon ( Kansas ) has been a good friend of ours since 2014, when he was a guest artist on our debut album Return (2015). I wrote a song with a very specific UK-Eddie-Jobson section for a violin solo ( Silence Revealed ), and Joe delivered spectacularly. With his band Stratospheerius , we co-founded the traveling festival Sonic Voyage Fest ( SVF ) in 2015, and did two SVF tours in 2015 and 2016. Joe also performed live with us at the 2016 Rites of Spring Festival ( RoSfest ), which was captured on our CircuLive::Majestik CD/DVD/ Blu-ray . So when we wrote Transmission Error for this album, I knew we wanted to bring Joe back as a guest artist.
The album artwork is stunning! Can you share the concept behind the artwork and how it ties into the album’s themes?
NB : Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you asked that question! When I first saw this painting, and saw all the amorphous people beneath these colorful birds soaring by, it spoke to my own personal desire for society. The artist is also someone Andrew and I know well, and is a long-time activist for social change, and she’s about to turn 100 this year! Her name is Henrietta Mantooth Bagley . As the band is evolving, we wanted to avoid our usual icon-based band cover. In terms of how it ties into the themes of the album, certainly the songs about tumultuous relationships, society’s limitations on unconventional relationships, and social change are echoed in songs like Tempus Horribilis , Third Rail , and Say Their Name . It was also really fun to use enlarged parts of the painting for the individual releases and the booklet .
What are Circuline’s next steps after the release of CORE ? Any tours or special projects that fans can look forward to?
AC : The CORE 2024 virtual tour will continue through the end of this year. In support of the new album, we have 57 events over 48 weeks this year, which include single releases every six weeks, lyric videos , official videos, Story Behind The Song video, Behind The Scenes video and more. Every six weeks, we do live Q&A sessions that are simultaneously streamed on YouTube , Facebook and Instagram , where we can interact in real time with fans from all over the world. It’s been a ton of work and a ton of fun! So this will continue for another four months. In October, we will be performing live at the ProgStock international festival in New Jersey, where we will be performing the new album in its entirety, which we are very excited about. We are creating some special “moments” for this live show, and there will be multi-tracked audio and video for our upcoming CD/DVD/ Blu-ray release . We would love to continue playing in North America, return to England to tour and add more European dates. Our sales and fan base in Australia, New Zealand and Japan continue to grow, so of course we would love to tour and play in those countries. We will see what opportunities continue to arise in 2025 until the end of the year.
Thank you, guys. It was an honor. Do you have any messages you would like to send to our readers and your fans?
AC : Thank you so much for listening to our music and for your support. Since we have our own independent label, we don’t have any big label money to promote this album, but we do have some really cool, kind and amazing people like you! We are so grateful to each and every one of you, because we couldn’t be doing this without your love and support. Please tell all your friends about us and keep helping us share our music around the world.
DB : We would like to thank everyone who has been following us since the beginning and everyone who is just discovering us. All comments, likes and views are greatly appreciated… so thank you!!
NB : Thank you, thank you, thank you for being here!
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Interview link: https://vianocturna2000.blogspot.com/2024/10/entrevista-circuline.html
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Pedro and Via Nocturna – thank you so much for the fantastic questions, and for the wonderful opportunity.
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