Originally,
Circles Around the Sun weren't so much a band as a project. The quartet -- guitarist
Neal Casal and keyboardist
Adam MacDougall (bandmates in
the Chris Robinson Brotherhood), bassist
Dan Horne, and drummer Mark Levy -- came together to cut a handful of
Grateful Dead-influenced prerecorded instrumentals to be played during set breaks at 2015's "Fare Thee Well" concerts. But concert audiences responded so positively, Rhino issued the music as the album
Interludes for the Dead. The group members decided they were having enough fun to continue making music together.
Let It Wander is their second double-length album.
Circles Around the Sun entered Ventura, California's Castaway 7 Studios and worked on tunes that would showcase a sound they were, as
Casal put it, "growing into." These seven instrumentals reveal a progression from
Interludes for the Dead. The band was unfettered by any goal when recording, and the sense of freedom is pervasive here.
As evidenced by opener "On My Mind," elements of jazzy rock, spindly funk, and mellow psych commingle as electric piano, synth, and
Casal's lyrical, pointillistic guitar playing (deeply influenced by
Jerry Garcia) articulate the melody. The rhythm section keeps it bumping, with guest Jeff Franca's congas adding a Latin flavor. The tune is songlike in structure, with various solos, a wordless chorus, and middle eight all built in. It gives way to "One for Chuck," featuring
Chuck D speaking in the intro. Its vibe is nocturnal and much funkier, as popping clavinet vamps frame rubbery bassline and snare breaks.
Casal rocks it out just enough in his solo, using a wah-wah pedal as his guide into the rhythm. "Immovable Object" marries the instrumental psych feel of
the Chris Robinson Brotherhood with the gritty, good-time groove of
Herbie Hancock's group on
Fat Albert Rotunda.
MacDougall's killer keyboard playing is as much an attraction as
Casal's picking -- and the rhythm section lays down a foundation so solid it cannot be shaken.
"Halicarnassus" is one of two 19-plus-minute jams here. It unfolds gradually in 7/8 time, fueled by a knotty little vamp underscored by the rhythm section laying down their best
Meters, with riff and single-line exchanges between
Casal and
MacDougall. On the backbone-slipping "Tacoma Narrows," clavinet and bass entwine, syncopating the funk riff and souled-out melody as popping drum breaks and spidery guitar lines emerge from the center. The 19-minute closer, "Ticket to Helix NGC 7293," is initially a breezy, sun-kissed psychedelic jam but evolves into a morass of tripped-out, abstract sonic and dynamic shifts that evoke
the Dead's
Anthem of the Sun before winding all the way around into a drifting
Hendrix-ian jam with double-time snare and bubbling basslines.
Let It Wander offers numerous surprises for listeners in these fine, almost hummable jam-style tunes; the canny playing and adventurousness this group displays here are tantamount to a major musical discovery. All killer, no filler. ~ Thom Jurek