Circa Waves
The Liverpool indie rock band, Circa Waves headed to Chalk on cold wet Wednesday to play their re-arranged Resident outstore to promote their latest album, ‘Never Going Under’.
Formed in Liverpool in 2013, Circa Waves consist of lead vocalist and guitarist Kieran Shudall, guitarist Joe Falconer, bassist Sam Rourke, and drummer Colin Jones. ‘Never Going Under’ is the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, which was released on 13th January 2023, with their original scheduled Brighton concert date to have taken place the following day.
Speaking about the album, frontman Kieran Shudall says: “’Never Going Under’ speaks to that uniquely modern phenomenon of genuinely not knowing what type of world our kids are going to find themselves in in 30 years. Physically, environmentally, politically we are completely in the unknown. [It] is a snapshot of the fear we all feel today and the resilience we will need to get through it.”
Back to Wednesday night at Chalk. The lights went out in the venue at 9:00pm with fairly sinister music playing; very different from what was to follow. Circa Waves came on stage to a massive scream from the expectant crowd, and went straight into the title track of their new album. The song ‘Never Going Under’ was a very lively opener to their set.
The second song ‘Moves’ had an old-fashioned feel to it, and the following one ‘Fossils’ had a that 90’s indie jangling guitar sound.
It was back to the new album for ‘Your Ghost’, which was a slightly slower tempo song. Most of the crowd at the front seemed to have already learned the album’s lyrics in the few weeks that ‘Never Going Under’ has been released judging by their enthusiastic singing along. More on the audience’s singing later.
Other songs performed from the new album included ‘Do You Wanna Talk’. This started with a drum beat, which most of the crowd beat the intro, knowing instantly what the new song was. This was more of a fast-paced pop song. This was followed by another new song ‘Hell On Earth’ which was also poppy with a fast chorus and slower verses.
The pace slowed for ‘Move To San Francisco’ from their 2020 album ‘Sad Happy’. This change of tempo added some variety to Circa Waves’s set. The following track ‘Fire That Burns’ from the 2017 album ‘Different Creatures’ had a harder edge, while ‘Be Your Drug’ from ‘Sad Happy’ had a rockier sound with hints of rock n roll.
Speaking about the new album, Kieran has said “the songs on the album are written differently from the previous work we’ve put out. They are written from the perspective of my son”. This was most apparent in the song that Circa Waves closed their main set ‘Carry You Home’. This song is a very personal song from a father’s perspective being strong for his son, whose lyrics include the lines “And I just wanna be the best I can. And I’m not sure if I’m the man… And I’m supposed to be Superman, But I’ve just cried in my hand”.
At 9:45pm the band left the stage, which was immediately followed with the usual call for “one more song”. When they returned after 5 minutes, Kieran suggested, “One more song? How about two more songs?”
The encore started with ‘Jacqueline’, which had a very different rhythm and more of a dance feel and hints of Latin beats. Then Kieran announced “One last song, let’s go crazy”, not that the audience needed any extra encouragement. This was to be ‘T-Shirt Weather’. Despite the weather outside, which was far from T-shirt weather, it was a good choice to close a very energetic set. It was a lively indie pop song, with influences from another Liverpool band, The La’s.
There were similarities with the Manchester band, Blossoms, in Circa Waves sound, and cheerfulness when playing live. Kieran, in particular, and the rest of the band played the entire set with broad smiles. The whole band gelled well and played with great zeal.
In many live music events, the band and audience feed off each other’s energy and passion. This was definitely the case on Wednesday night at Chalk. To give the crowd some extra credit, they were in fine voice singing along to the records during the interval between bands. Giving good renditions of the likes of ‘Alright’ by Supergrass; ‘Take Me Out’ by Franz Ferdinand; ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers and even the disco track ‘Give It Up’ by K C and The Sunshine Band.
Chalk wasn’t full for Circa Waves’s outstore gig, but those there loved it. Singing every word, dancing and moshing. Good enthusiasm both on stage and in the audience led to a good evening’s entertainment.
Circa Waves:
Kieran Shudall – vocals and guitar
Joe Falconer – guitar
Sam Rourke bass
Colin Jones – drums
Circa Waves setlist:
‘Never Going Under’ (from 2023 ‘Never Going Under’ album)
‘Movies’ (from 2019 ‘What’s It Like Over There?’ album)
‘Fossils’ (from 2015 ‘Young Chasers’ album)
‘Your Ghost’ (from 2023 ‘Never Going Under’ album)
‘Stuck in My Teeth’ (from 2015 ‘Young Chasers’ album)
‘Sad Happy’ (from the 2020 ‘Sad Happy’ album)
‘Get Away’ (from 2015 ‘Young Chasers’ album)
‘Do You Wanna Talk’ (from 2023 ‘Never Going Under’ album)
‘Hell On Earth’ (from 2023 ‘Never Going Under’ album)
‘Move To San Francisco’ (from 2020 ‘Sad Happy’ album)
‘Fire That Burns’ (from 2017 ‘Different Creatures’ album)
‘Be Your Drug’ (from the 2020 ‘Sad Happy’ album)
‘Carry You Home’ (from 2023 ‘Never Going Under’ album)
(encore)
‘Jacqueline’ (from the 2020 ‘Sad Happy’ album)
‘T-Shirt Weather’(from 2015 ‘Young Chasers’ album)
CIEL
Usually for an album launch, there’s a DJ set rather than a support band. This time however, support came in the form of local Brighton based band CIEL (pronounced ‘She-Elle’) who provided a very impressive set.
The multi-national trio of CIEL are Michelle Hindriks (from Holland) on vocals and bass, Jorge Bele Jimenez (from Spain) on guitar and Tim Spencer (from Littlehampton) on drums. CIEL’s sound draws influences from 90’s grunge, goth and shoegaze.
CIEL came on stage promptly at 8:00pm and started with frenzied guitar feedback. Tim started their opening number ‘Back To The Feeling’ with a heavy drum beat.
The haunting quality of Michelle’s vocals were clear from the opening words of the song. On the second song in the set ‘Seeking’ her softer vocals contrasted very well with the heavy post-punk music. By contrast on the next song ‘Talk’ she started with spoken word before singing in a more chorale style. Jorge played an interesting more elaborate guitar part in this track.
CIEL slowed the pace for their next song ‘Awake’, which was a darker atmospheric track. Again by contrast, this was followed by ‘Baby Don’t You Know’ a more upbeat and indie pop song.
The difference in style between the two guitarists worked very well. Michelle providing a steady bassline, while Jorge added some sporadic bursts in songs within his overall guitar part. Most striking was Michelle’s haunting goth-like almost understated vocals against the power of the grunge post-punk music. Amongst all this Tim did a great job setting and altering the tempo between and within songs.
CIEL ended their 30-minute set on a high with ‘Fine Everything’, their debut single. It was a very energetic tune with a great instrumental break towards the end.
Although CIEL may have been unknown to many of the Circa Waves fans, they got a good reception at the end of their impressive varied set.
You can catch CIEL again, when they play The Great Escape Festival in May.
CIEL:
Michelle Hindriks – vocals and bass,
Jorge Bele Jimenez – guitar,
Tim Spencer – drums
CIEL setlist:
‘Back To The Feeling’ (from 2022 ‘Not In The Sun, Nor In The Dark’ EP)
‘Seeking’ (a 2022 Single release)
‘Talk’ (unreleased)
‘Awake’ (from 2017 ‘Anxiety’ EP)
‘Baby Don’t You Know’ (from 2022 ‘Not In The Sun, Nor In The Dark’ EP)
‘Pictures’ (unreleased)
‘Catchy Bass’ (working title, unreleased)
‘Fine Everything’ (from 2022 ‘Not In The Sun, Nor In The Dark’ EP)
