|
Just like
the cool kids in the cafeteria, the arty
ones you always wanted to sit with but were
a little too scared of, Fish Circus’s second
CD, simply titled Volume 2, ensnares you
with its trippy combination of punky funky
klezmer beats and holds you hostage, playing
mind games with your booty (and “your
boobies,” as one of their contagious songs
has it).
Hailing from southern California, Fish
Circus plays live shows notable for
uncontrollable energy and adrenaline rushes
that bleed profusely into the audience.
Their latest CD showcases lead vocalist’s
Anais Thomassian’s hypnotizing voice, as
well as her accordion, which should be your
tip off that this is not your conventional
progressive rock band. Using trombone,
violin, French horn, and bass, as well as
that accordion and assorted percussion
(think mooing cow), the six-member band
creates psychedelic, playful aural
tapestries, laden with labyrinthine
wordplay.
With a riveting stage presence combined of a
pantherine grace and a firecracker’s
dynamism, Thomassian (a member of the
Spiegelworld/Spiegeltent/Absinthe troupe)
can appear as a cross-generational amalgam
of Josephine Baker and Janis Joplin. This is
a woman who channels both Betty Boop and
Stephen King’s Carrie, thereby riding the
razor’s edge between flirtatious and flinty
(listen to the incendiary cut
“Constitution”). In short: a true Southern
Californian.
Together with her five cohorts, Thomassian
and Fish Circus make music that makes you
want to drive all night. To hear “Red Haze
of the Western Sky” or “In The Whale’s
Belly” is to feel yourself traveling across
the country, heading for Burning Man or
Coachella in a school bus called Furthur
filled with Merry Pranksters. And as the
full moon rises overhead, there’s Thomassian
serenading you with a Fish Circus lullaby,
“Rest Now.
Careful, though: there’s no sleeping in this
van. This is music that moves you, both
cerebrally and viscerally. You’ll shake your
tailfeathers as your mind wraps around
lyrics like “sun shine, shining down, shine
on these healthy, bouncy breasts floppin’
around.” Kick it up and kick it back; Fish
Circus, Volume 2, is irresistible.
Fish Circus, Vol. 2 available at CDbaby.com
|
