Gig Review: I Found Myself Lost In The Sound of Russian Circles Once Again

Gig reviews used to happen in newspapers around the country. Now they sneak into places like Substack. So here’s one about the post-rock band Russian Circles. First time seeing them in over a decade.

Russian Circles

San Fran, Wellington

Thursday, February 1

I last saw Russian Circles over a decade ago. I described them then as a ‘brutal joy’ and that still holds, largely. The post-rock instrumental trio from Chicago, Illinois tend to eschew the long, loping layers of intro that many in the post-rock community favour; theirs is a more ‘metal’ form of instrumental rock, and though there’s still plenty of layers - and some looping - it’s about pushing the head under almost instantly. They hit their audience with solid rock-riffing, and the thunderous, inventive drumming of Dave Turncrantz. In fact, as great as Mike Sullivan’s guitar work, and Brian Cook’s bass playing was - once again - it’s the work of Turncrantz behind the skins that really sells the full sound of Russian Circles; that really makes the dynamics sing. In that sense, he is to the band as John Bonham and Keith Moon were to Led Zeppelin and The Who, lifting those bands up and away from obvious beat-combo and blues-based rock band status. Without Turncrantz, Russian Circles might just be another Explosions in The Shy, eh?

Yes, it’s true, that from time to time I pined for the work of our own Jakob - not entirely dissimilar to Circles, but with more of the elongation about the intros, with more of a story and more poetics around telling the tale, but it was hard not to be caught in the power and sway and majesty when they were serving up material like the opening brace of Station and Harper Lewis, both from 2008’s sophomore release, Station. That’s the material I remember from my first Russian Circles gig, and it sounded as good as it ever did. Same with Mládek from 2011’s Empros.

In a strong, short set of muscular tunes, Circles played just enough in a broad survey of the earlier albums (2013’s Memorial getting a look in with Deficit, and 2016’s Guidance via Afrika) whilst focussing on their latest, 2022’s Gnosis. Indeed, Conduit, Betrayal and the title track from the touring record were all ominous, glorious even. That same melodicism and the dynamics (great loud/quiet/loud - though, mostly, really loud and then levels and layers within that) but maybe a bit more added crunch with time? If anything.

I love a band that knows exactly how long to play for - you don’t feel cheated, or ripped off in the slightest. But you’re not there all night hearing the same thing over and over again. And, look, with an instrumental trio there are limits, there is going to be some same-ness, and there was. Totally. But overall, this was an amazing reminder of one of the better bands in a somewhat overcrowded genre/sub-genre of instrumental music.