Circulus

A singular fusion of British traditional folk with progressive rock, psychedelia, and folk-rock, Circulus channels an atmosphere more commonly encountered at a revival screening of The Wicker Man. The project originated with songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Tyack, who sought to produce music simultaneously rooted in the twentieth and sixteenth centuries. Operating from South London, the ensemble maintains Tyack as its sole unchanging participant amid dozens of lineup changes. While the group employs the drums, guitars, and Moog synthesizers typical of an early-1970s rock outfit, it also integrates medieval instruments such as crumhorns, recorders, and the rauch pfeifer, whose volume Tyack has declared “isn’t really acceptable to modern ears.”

The band’s collective visual presentation garners nearly equal attention to its recordings; Tyack dresses himself and his collaborators in secondhand capes, caftans, hats, and masks shaped equally by the British hippie movement and his declared stylistic exemplar, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy in the thirteenth century. Shared convictions in pixies, fairies, and “old gods” further contribute to a widespread reputation for eccentricity, yet the strength of the music itself has cultivated a devoted following that spans traditional-music devotees and death-metal listeners alike.

Circulus issued its first recording, the EP Giantism, in 1999. Not until 2005 did the group secure support from Rise Above Records, an extreme-metal imprint, for a full-length release, The Lick on the Tip of an Envelope Yet to Be Sent. The follow-up album, Clocks Are Like People, appeared the next year.