The first Flare CD I got, just before Christmas 2000 (see later 1, 2). LD Beghtol, Flare singer and songwriter (and guest 69 Love Songs guest singer), posted to the Stephinsongs email list to say that Circa was available for order — in the US. Getting it in the UK was harder — Amazon were asking a silly price, and cow.co.uk initially took my order but then said they couldn't fulfil it. So I ended up going to the source, and buying it direct from Mother West the studio where it was recorded, run by Flare member Charles Newman.
During the protracted ordering process, I let LD know I was trying to get hold of a copy, and he asked me to let him know what I thought of it. This is what I sent a few weeks later.
So… I like it (phew!), though on first listen it was clear that it was likely to be a 'grower' rather than grabbing me immediately. The whole feel of the sound evokes a mood rather than painting a clear picture or telling a story (as many TMF [The Magnetic Fields] songs do). If I had to put a name to the mood, I guess it would be wistful, with tinges of melancholy and loss.
What's curious in a bewitching kind of way is that it sounds like it carries a lot of influences with it, but I've found it quite difficult to pin down what these are. The easy answer would be Low (and this was prompted by the little magazine that came with it in which you interview Low!) particularly in the opening of Item: June 16th. But this is probably too easy and doesn't stand up to sustained scrutiny.
As I listened, I kept thinking about the first album by This Mortal Coil, and especially the cover versions of Alex Chilton songs on that record. I blew the dust off my copy, and had my feelings semi-confirmed, though the production sound of TMC has a distinct early 80s/4AD hallmark.
As I mostly heard the EP while 'in transit' over an extended Xmas/New Year holiday, I initially paid little attention to the cover, the track titles, and often didn't listen closely to the lyrics. So I was intrigued when I later picked up the references to 'the scene circa 1984' — the same year that This Mortal Coil released that album! But I don't imagine you could really have been evoking this rather parochial and largely forgotten scene from my student days...?!
I hope these few thoughts are interesting. I'm very much looking forward to the shows later this week in London. We're going on Friday and Saturday [these were the third and fourth nights of The Magnetic Fields' residency at the Lyric Hammersmith in January 2001, where the 'full cast' played all 69 Love Songs in order over two nights, twice]: in July it was two of us; in November there were six of us at Shepherds Bush; and now our party has expanded to twelve.
LD replied generously from London, explaining how Circa was largely about memory and history, and citing the less obvious influences of Palestrina, Hank Williams, Satie and the Incredible String Band, alongside Low and TMF. 4AD were also acknowledged as an influence, though most of This Mortal Coil "is too pretty for me — by which i mean there's nothing to contrast the beauty with, and not enough darkness underneath the surface for me — flare is largely about that duality". However, "the scene" was specifically the art scene in New York City in the mid-eighties — which was when LD drew the self-portrait on the cover.
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