Circles Around the Sun & Mikaela Davis – After Sunrise EP (2024)          


Review:
Last year the Circles Around The Sun released Language and a major highpoint on the album was the title track where they teamed up with harpist Mikaela Davis. Following up on that success comes After Sunrise, a four-song offering with over a half hour of languid (mostly) instrumental offerings that cruise along with the same serene vibe. The band (John Lee Shannon – guitars Adam MacDougall – keyboards Mikaela Davis – harp, vocals Dan Horne – bass Mark Levy – drums and percussion Andres Renteria – percussion) welcome Davis by allowing her harp to kick off “Gloaming Way (Extended Cut)”. The tune is perfectly named as the track slowly builds with echoing guitar and synths around Davis’s harp and as the sun slowly sets, the party gets started. The ‘70’s inspired disco groove ebbs and flows around light drumming and synths with Davis’s harp playing well amongst the light funk. The track ends on a weird note, just like most good party nights. “Moonbow” uses a funky bass with fluttering harp accents to continue the disco dancing ways before the artists deliver a cool cover of Sérgio Mendes’ “After Sunrise”. The easy rolling effort contains some bright playing as well as some soaring “La La La” vocals from Davis. The short album (or long EP) wraps up with a live take on the song that brought them together with “Language Live Boston 012923”. The dance party vibe returns with cascading harp and synth leading the way over the shoulder shaking rhythms. The extended effort gets spacey midway before a harp and synth duet take center stage, but the disco groove comes back with a bit more bite and funky energy to close. Circles Around the Sun and Mikaela Davis feel fluid and natural together, whether in a live get down setting, tackling a Brazilian cover tune, or in the studio. After Sunrise is a blissful, disco-fueled stroll that eases out into a glorious day. — Review by Shawn Donohue at glidemagazine.com


             


Track List:
01 - Gloaming Way
02 - Moonbow
03 - After Sunrise
04 - Language


Media Report:
Genre:  funk, psychedelic rock
Origin: Los Angeles, California, USA  
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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