Although most people associate summer with sun-loving, knee-slapping, cannonball-jumping, nacho-eating, dog-wrestling, good-time Charlies, others consider it the most depressing season. Something about all that phony bonhomie rankles more during the summer solstice than it does in the dead of winter. Combating the heat, the expectations of having fun, and various seasonal affective disorders can be difficult, but luckily, some artists make the battle painless or even inconsequential. For summer stressors and embracers alike, the time couldn’t be brighter or righter for the return of Haley Fohr, who has been lifting moods for years now as Circuit des Yeux.
With a voice teetering between Richter-disturbing baritone and heart-massaging vibrato, Fohr is adept at finding that perfect songwriting space where brittle beauty and spine-tingling tenderness mingle brilliantly with disquieting, discordant sounds to conceive something truly especial. The latest Circuit des Yeux attention-grabber will be released October 20 through Drag City. Co-produced by Fohr and Cooper Crain, Reaching for Indigo is her first album for DC after several phenomenal releases, including a self-released record from 2013 and others issued before and after by labels like DeStijl and Thrill Jockey (the latter of which released the wonderful wack-job alter-ego’d Jackie Lynn last year).
A lyric video edited and curated by Meg Remy of U.S. Girls is now available for the first single “Paper Bag” and can be viewed below.
Circuit des Yeux has also just announced a North American tour for November, hitting key spots like Toronto, Chicago, and New York, but there are three shows leading up to the tour that are, to use a technical term, doozies. First up, Fohr will fit nicely in a very, very good lineup at the OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland on August 6. Then she will mix it up in Berlin on August 23 at the Pop-Kultur Festival, where she presents a Diamanda Galas-inspired, anechoic chamber installation with stage designer Kelly Tivnan. Lastly, Fohr will play a special event with a special band in Chicago on October 7, performing Nico’s Chelsea Girl to celebrate that album’s 50th anniversary.
Drag City is taking pre-orders for Reaching for Indigo here. Show info and the songlisting can be found after the video below. It’s all enough to make one a sun lover, after all!
Reaching for Indigo tracklist:
01. Brainshift
02. Black Fly
03. Philo
04. Paper Bag
05. A Story of This World Part II
06. Call Sign E8
07. Geyser
08. Falling Blonde
Circuit des circuits:
08.06.17 - Katowice, Poland - Dolina Trzech Stawów, OFF Festival
08.23.17 - Berlin, DE - Pop Kultur Festival *
10.07.17 - Chicago, IL - Bohemian National Cemetary ^
11.11.17 - Toronto, ON - The Drake Hotel
11.12.17 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le “Ritz” P.D.B
11.13.17 - Allston, MA - Great Scott
11.15.17 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade NYC
11.16.17 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
11.18.17 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
* Circuit des Yeux presents “Big Black Box”, a commissioned interactive sculpture for Pop Kultur.
^ Circuit des Yeux & Guests perform Nico’s “Chelsea Girl”.