Last summer we were hit with the bombshell that the dissolution of System of a Down—one of this century’s most interesting mainstream hard rock bands—was heavily informed by frontman Serj Tankian’s disinterest in hard rock, which, again, is the genre his band System of a Down is known for playing well enough to attract a mainstream audience.
But if we’ve learned anything from SOAD’s five-album run, the inception of Sleigh Bells, and countless other examples of opposites attracting, this dissociation makes for some extremely interesting new genres. Such is the case with Baltimore’s The Holy Circle, whose gothy mom rock infuses elements of drone, shoegaze, and new wave with the soft rock vocals you became all too familiar with en route to soccer practice back in middle school.
On their new EP Sick with Love, this fusion is at its most realized, with Erica Burgner-Hannum’s vocals standing out against reverb-heavy soundscapes arranged by Rob Savillo and Locrian’s Terence Hannum. “Free and Young” sounds derivative of the operatic dream pop pouring out of Dais Records as of late, while “Glass” is a more ambient, Distortion-era Magnetic Fields take on noise pop. You can stream the EP in full a few days ahead of its release date, and check out the band’s exclusive Mixcloud offering—bravely juxtaposing no wave nihilists White Suns with Tracy Chapman—for a better idea of their range .
Sick with Love is out July 19 on Deathbomb Arc. You can pre-order it here.
Tracklist:
1. BLOODYMINDED – Mothercare – 01 As If
2. Hounds Of Love / Kate Bush
3. Dead In a Boat / Wolf Eyes
4. Stabbed In the Face / Wolf Eyes
5. The Blue Train (2015 Remastered Version) / Dolly Parton, Linda
Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris
6. This Is It, Right Here / Slogun COS
7. No Ordinary Love / Sade
8. let’s see who’s here and who’s not / hair police
9. Kool Thing / Sonic Youth
10. Kaihou / Paranoid
11. Army of Me / Björk
12. Eulogy / Collusion / Sibling
13. Heaven is a Place on Earth / Belinda Carlisle
14. Nakedness Of Need / Pharmakon
15. Cities In Dust / Siouxsie And The Banshees
16. Track 21 / Black Dice
17. Crazy On You / Heart
18. Spear Flowers / Ramleh
19. Fast Car / Tracy Chapman
20. Burial Rites / White Suns
21. Stand Back (Remastered) / Stevie Nicks
