Teen post-rock sister trio Circus Trees prove that age is just a number in their first album, Delusions.
Circus Trees contribute a young female perspective to the ever-growing post-rock movement on their new album, Delusions. The McCarthy sisters—bassist and keys player Edmee, 15, lead guitarist and singer Fin, 16, and drummer Giuls, 19—started playing music when they were very young, inspired by one of their older brothers, Eoghan McCarthy, who plays guitar and bass for the band The Light Inside Me Is Dead. Following their 2019 debut EP, Sakura, the band released Delusions in August of 2020, and it “hit closer to home.” “It’s more personal to us. It’s more emotional to us as well,” said Fin. The album features intense instrumentals paired with sparse yet meaningful lyrics as the sisters pack an enormous punch.
Giuls described the album recording process as much more difficult than the releasing of their initial EP, as it was written and recorded during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic: “For our last release, Sakura, we had played those songs out live for months and months, and we were kind of perfecting them and getting them ready to record and release. And I think for this last one, Delusions, it was especially tough not being able to do that,” she said.
The first song and single off of the album, “Wasted Air,” was one that the band had previously played live, having written it pre-pandemic. The track is a true testament to the post-rock style, a form popularized by The Velvet Underground in the 1960s that continued to gain popularity into the 90s. “Wasted Air” encapsulates more orchestral experimental rock, having fewer lyrics while focusing more on the instrumentation. It’s filled with wild guitar solos accompanied by intricate yet intense drumming patterns, punctuating Fin’s meaningful lyrics. The song uses several audio clips recorded by the band’s producer and friend, Aaron Garcia, whose recording alias is Pillbook. According to Fin, the two-hour tape features Garcia’s former neighbor, a medium, who is talking to another woman about her abusive husband. The audio is used in several songs throughout the album, creating a foreboding atmosphere and setting the mood for the entire album as it is the first voice heard. “You want to grab him by the throat and choke him to death when he talks to you sometimes or doesn’t listen / but that’s alright / he is a legend in his own,” says the recording, floating on ethereal synth sounds.
Another hit off of the album is “Confronting Time.” The band had originally written the song when they first formed, but had never felt like it reached its full capabilities.. However, after spending some time with it, Fin adjusted the instrumentation forcing new life into it and brought it back to her sisters for their approval. The song starts off featuring a solemn bass and guitar line as Giuls dances across the cymbals of her drum set, building in ferocity as Fin starts to sing. The song then breaks into chaotic instrumentals as Fin wails on her guitar with a wave of sound peppered by Giuls’ and Edmee’s steady bass beat. The song features lyrics as heavy as the instrumentation on the track. “My father told me that I could be strong / With the cuts on my wrist, I knew he could be wrong,” sings Fin, with a driving intensity speaking on struggles with mental health.
“Memories” is the most lyric-heavy and relaxed of all of the tracks, with Fin crooning about lies and lost memories: “So don’t lie to me / So stop lying / So do you love me like in my dreams / Oh how it’s supposed to be.” The track rises and falls like a wave with its ferocity. Guils hammers on her drum set, and the guitar and bass get louder and louder. But on the turn of a dime, the music falls quiet, with Guils lightly tapping on her cymbals and Edmee and Fin strumming out a calm melody. The song ends with a brief recording of the female medium featured in “Wasted Air,” as she points out a spirit’s sad eyes and inquires about whether or not he had a troubled childhood.
Because of their young age and gender, the band is often misunderstood as members of a male-dominated music genre. “People really like to judge a book by its cover,” said Fin. “I really like to prove them wrong. People at shows like to treat us like kids and girls until we actually go on and play the music.” Circus Trees have the potential to become giants in the post-rock music scene. Through Delusions, they prove more than capable of taking on this responsibility.