Send "Circlesquare " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Prefixmag |
 A first acid trip or roll on ecstasy can open up new dimensions of thought never previously deemed possible. Suddenly, the entire world is seen through new eyes and life’s most perplexing conundrums are revealed in a revelatory flash. But this never lasts. The inevitable comedown follows, and you suddenly feel so isolated from a world you were just moments ago so profoundly connected to. But it is the moments that most who have dabbled in drugs prefer to forget that Berlin’s minimalist no-wave outfit Circlesquare’s Songs About Dancing and Drugs intend to investigate -- the fragmented minutia of thoughts when the afterglow of a fucked-up night out on the town has worn off. Opening with the slow-burner “Hey You Guys,” the aesthetic of Dancing and Drugs is quickly revealed. From the echoed, heavily treated speak-sing of Circlesquare mastermind Jeremy Shaw to the half-interested cuffed guitar off to the wayside right down to the sparseness of the programmed drums, electro-minimalism takes chief priority. And to Circlesquare’s credit, the album is beautifully produced. Every noise, even the slightest rattle or whir, is revealed crisply and cleanly, so that it allows you to sink in to the spaciousness of each song, however alienating the track may be....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Vancouver singer/songwriter Jeremy Shaw stands out amongst the steadily increasing stream of electronic music producers relocating to the creative hotbed of Berlin. His Circlesquare solo-project-cum-three-piece-band has resisted the prevailing sound of techno that defines much of the city’s nightlife, producing a new album of finely crafted electronic pop songs that are, as per the title, all about dancing and drugs. After a long affiliation with Trevor Jackson’s now defunct Output Records, which came to an end in 2006—when the label shut its doors just after the release of Circlesquare’s excellent Fight Sounds EP—Shaw relocated to Berlin, formed his new band, and signed with influential label !K7. While he has very much stuck to his own unique sound, Berlin’s permissive party atmosphere may very well be the inspiration for this album that is, in his own words, about “the great parts and the inevitable decline” of dance culture and drug culture....full text |
| Residentadvisor |
| Circlesquare's third LP is a tremendous comedown record, but not in the therapeutic sense, because it sounds actually too much like a comedown to help you forget your own. This fact alone is enough to assign this album breakthrough status, but it also means it should be handled with care—its brooding, downtempo electronic pop so compellingly traces a particularly fragile set of emotional coordinates that you may find yourself more lost than found, swept along by its shifting undercurrents, somewhere on the wrong side of Sunday morning, wondering what all of last night was about, tottering between utter exhaustion and wanting it all over again. It's no surprise that Circlesquare mastermind Jeremy Shaw is a recent Berlin transplant: Songs About Dancing and Drugs is the perfect soundtrack to eating doner kebab alone at sunrise after stumbling out of Berghain. The key word in the album's title actually is "about"; it's all about the about. The consistently elegaic tone here is borne from the fact that they're not songs for dancing and drugs, but about them—the dancing and drugs are gone, having taken all the pleasures of the night with them. The whole record feels like you went out clubbing and partying and there was a big rush of sensations and you stayed out very, very late and then all your friends went home, and now you're back at your laptop with a midi board, and maybe the sun is coming up, and you should drink some water, and all the loud pulsing sounds, the firebomb bass and siren swirl, are still echoing somewhere in the back of your skull....full text |
Circlesquare lyrics
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