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CRITIC REVIEWS
90
With -io she has made a work that is both devastatingly personal and beautifully generous.
90
Circuit des Yeux strides over the ‘tortured artist’ paradigm altogether, co-creating with the listener a humbling, healing experience through music and wild imagination.
85
Over the course of the album, we seem to hear Fohr coming to terms with the vastness of mortality, and realising that it is in itself beautiful – it is what makes life precious.
80
Fohr ambitiously attempts to strip back protective coatings and cocoons, to show what happens when distractions peel away and the inevitable pushes through.
80
Through soundscapes as majestic as they are chaotic, Haley Fohr is trapped in -io, a networked world she is trying to escape.
78
Accompanied by strings, horns, and more, Haley Fohr has crafted her most expansive work to date, capturing a sprawl of emotions too complicated to be named.
70
Fohr's lyrics draw from personal experiences as well as scientific phenomena, and she elevates them with her dynamic, sometimes earth-shaking arrangements.
70
It’s Fohr's stunning vocal that drives the album: a four-octave voice that stretches between moments of lilting vulnerability to, on "Vanishing", a cry ofe arth-shaking vengeance.
60
Fohr’s approached writing –io by carefully constructing her emotional state, piece by piece. That methodical approach has given her a physical manifestation of grief that she can work to overcome, when mourning feels like shadowboxing.
If Spellling's The Turning Wheel is heaven and Lingua Ignota's Sinner Get Ready is hell, then this is the fall from heaven to hell. (ps: that's also depicted on the album cover).
Some of us resort to music to escape our inescapable reality, often reimagining our lives like what we see in the movies. Theatrical or not, we seek that way out. Haley Fohr, with this album, has provided me with that opportunity. Accompanied by her deep vocals, reminiscent with that of Anna B Savage, are magnificent showers of orchestration that create the backdrop of that reimagination we're desperately trying to achieve. Incredibly poetic and emotional at certain points, it's hard to miss ... read more
Had no idea who this is... well I certainly do now.
Wow. I did not expect this at all. My friend heard the first three songs and then wanted to listen to me, he said the first three were INCREDIBLE. And in all honestly, I liked them a lot but I didn't think they were that crazy. So I was enjoying myself but not to the full extent he was, but then the 5th track and on are INCREDIBLE. 'Sculpting the Exodus' might be one of my favorite tracks of the entire year. A lot of the instrumentation is ... read more
Tonglen | In Vain ~ ★★☆☆☆
Vanishing ~ ★★★☆☆
Dogma ~ ★★★☆☆
The Chase ~ ★★★☆☆
Sculpting the Exodus ~ ★★★☆☆
Walking toward Winter ~ ★★★★☆
Argument ~ ★★★☆☆
Neutron Star ~ ★★★★☆
Stranger ~ ★★★★☆
Oracle Song ~ ★★★★☆
⏳ new & improved: time-weighted score ⏳
Every now and then an artist I’ve never heard of crosses my path and blows my mind, and I mistakenly assume they must be new but then I look it up and I realise that this is in fact their seventh album and wonder how on earth I’ve missed out on them ’til now. This is exactly the case with US artist Circuit Des Yeux and I just want to punch myself for being so late to the party. With this in mind, I can’t really compare this new record with their previous works, but I ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Tonglen In Vain 0:33 | 72 |
| 2 | Vanishing 4:34 | 86 |
| 3 | Dogma 3:24 | 82 |
| 4 | The Chase 2:41 | 73 |
| 5 | Sculpting the Exodus 5:01 | 82 |
| 6 | Walking Toward Winter 4:12 | 81 |
| 7 | Argument 5:02 | 85 |
| 8 | Neutron Star 6:07 | 83 |
| 9 | Stranger 5:39 | 80 |
| 10 | Oracle Song 3:53 | 82 |
Total Length: 41 minutes
Year End Lists
| #9 | / | The Wire |
| #12 | / | Beats Per Minute |
| #13 | / | MAGNET |
| #14 | / | Crack Magazine |
| #14 | / | musicOMH |
| #18 | / | Treble |
| #38 | / | Our Culture |
| #48 | / | God Is In The TV |
| #49 | / | NPR Music |
Added on: August 17, 2021