Circus No. 9’s self-titled album is the next turn in the development of progressive bluegrass, an elaboration on the style’s time-tested tradition that aims to move the genre forward without deserting its fundamentals. Ask any casual music fan what they know about bluegrass and, if they can answer at all, the bulk will likely mention The Beverly Hillbillies. Or Deliverance. You may get lucky and hear them mention the names of Ralph Stanley or Bill Monroe.
URL: https://circusnumbernine.com/
It conjures up rural images and such limitations have the potential to reduce the genre to something akin to a butterfly trapped under museum glass. Circus No. 9 is up, however, for tampering with this old form and seeing what sort of life remains in its presumably moribund tropes. “To the Lighthouse” immediately throws down a gauntlet for first time listeners as, if you have a narrow conception of what this music should and shouldn’t do, their approach confounds those expectations. It isn’t adversarial. It’s self-expressive and yet invites listeners to come along.
This and later songs do reach a high emotional pitch. Some, however, maintain a more even-handed keel such as the second track “The Place That I Call Home”. It’s an energetic number without ever glossing over the song’s melody and musicality. The album’s lead single “Steampipe Coffee” shows how the band cherry-picks from the genre’s vast well of imagery and refashions it to suit their purposes. It’s a testament to their artistic cohesion that they boast such a diverse array of songwriting credits while maintaining a recognizable sound from track to track.
The band includes an assortment of instrumentals on the album, each one distinct, and “Unfinished Business” rates as one of the best. It invokes an unabashedly retro sound recalling mountainous landscapes and green valleys and relies on the same deft give and take in the playing that has brought Circus No. 9 to where they are today. “Circus Train No. 9” is a dazzling union of two seemingly disparate songs, but they dovetail seamlessly into one another. The first half is an arch-traditional bluegrass track but later fractures into something darker and risky. They bring things back to earth, however, with great finesse. It never sounds false or forced.
They offer up two more instrumentals before the album’s end, “Joy of Learning” and “West Point, IA”, that further explore their progressive tendencies. Core bluegrass fundamentals are never far away from what they do and they’ve clearly adhered to the idea of mastering the rules before heaving them out the nearest window. The curtain comes with “Scaffold Song”. It is a final return to traditional mode, albeit with the progressive finding its way through as well, but Aofie O’Donovan’s presence on vocals gives a gentler feel appropriate for this album’s ending. Circus No. 9 has the transformative talents necessary to give bluegrass the convincing and respectful makeover it deserves; these are musicians devoted to their craft and possess the staying power to remain creative and relevant for years to come.
Claire Uebelacker