Circle Takes The Square are self releasing their new album, Decompositions: Volume 1, today as "pay what you like" download. Over two years in the making, Decompositions: Volume 1 is CTTS's first new album in over eight years. You can get it here. We were sent these details about the album:
Recorded/Mixed/Mastered by Anthony Stubelek at Rockstudio in Brunswick, GA, Decompositions: Volume I is a collection of songs, comprised of three central musical narratives. Each composition maintains its own identity and story arc, while also playing an integral role in the overarching plotline that unfolds throughout the Decompositions' two chapters.
In Chapter 1: Rites Of Initiation, CTTS push their intricate and circuitous writing style to it's furthest reaches, evoking labyrinthine soundscapes and psychological/visionary imagery in songs like "Way Of Ever-Branching Paths" And "Spirit Narrative" - all within an eclectic yet cohesive collage of punk, metal and even indie sounds.
In Chapter 2: Totem Polaris, CTTS breaks ground in new territories, often only hinted at in their past work. What may have been a fleeting moment of crushing sludge, or straight-forward thrash in their previous compositions, becomes the keystone in songs like "Arrowhead As Epilogue" and "Singing Vengeance Into Being," where the prog-influenced nuances of Chapter 1 are still present, but used primarily as embellishments rather than foundations. Earthy overtones and esoteric references swirl around within the angular dirges Circle Takes the Square has conjured up in Decompositions: Volume 1, wherein the least expected sounds and passages (to those already initiated into the realm of CTTS), seem to ensure the band's commitment to challenging themselves and their fans, with continued experiments inside the beautifully dark universe they've manifested.
Decompositions: Volume 1 Track List:
Chapter I: Rites of Initiation
I. Enter By The Narrow Gates
II. Spirit Narrative
III. Way of Ever-Branching Paths
IV. The Ancestral Other Side
Chapter II: Totem Polaris
V. Prefaced By The Signal Fires
VI. A Closing Chapter (Scarlet Rising)
VII. Singing Vengeance Into Being
VIII. Arrowhead As Epilogue
IX. North Star, Inverted