The Circuit Riders, a band whose members have each lived in Starkville, played live at Rick’s on Saturday evening. Although the setup wouldn’t allow for the synthesizer effects, an energetic fiddle played through a set that went well from all accounts with a strong crowd response.
In 1999, two years after the first members met, the Circuit Riders formed. While their early music was geared toward alternative-country, the highly original new album, Halcyon Days, is more of a fusion of digital music and their early influences.
“I’d say that our modern sound on this record is mostly influenced by Guided By Voices, Neil Young and bands like Wilco or Radiohead,” bassist Seth Sherwin explained.
The album is composed of older material combined with their new synthesizer and sampling abilities, sounding like Donna the Buffalo meets Blonde Redhead.
The songs easily progress from digital clouds to songs with easy melodies, from funny fast tracks to mysterious, enhanced ones that have movie samples similar to those used by the now defunct “At the Drive-In.”
The first song shares a title with an old Scottish New Year’s song, “Auld Lang Syne.” Later on, the title track begins with a bittersweet orchestral string flourish, later ending with a sample from a sing along in “It’s A Wonderful Life” that furthers the feeling of a New Year dawning. With lyrics that are open to interpretation, emotional music and a strong sense of cohesion throughout, Halcyon Days is a very easy to listen to, yet highly intelligent, album.
“I’m very proud of the old stuff on the record and excited about the new. We worked really hard to create a lot of fear, pain and joy on it, something that definitely comes through,” singer and guitarist Warren Black said.
With such an eclectic and talented group of musicians, it’s surprising that The Circuit Riders still remain off a major label. The next CD that they release will probably make the new sound that the band has reached feel even more natural. Next month, after the album is recorded again onto a master disc and released, the band will return and play Starkville again.