Circulatory System - Mosaics Within Mosaics

Circulatory System
Mosaics Within Mosaics
24 June 2014
Cloud Recordings

3.5 stars out of 5

 

The endearingly awkward Will Cullen Hart has revived Circulatory System (again) for a third album, the double LP Mosaics Within Mosaics. It has the same handmade charm of his previous releases, merging the lo-fi brevity of Guided by Voices with the panoramic ambition of The Beatles circa the second side of Abbey Road. Fans of the Elephant 6 collective will be satisfied, as Mos(Mosaics)aics doesn’t stray too far from the aesthetic of the legendary Athens, Georgia, based label, though the uninitiated will likely be baffled, befuddled, beguiled, and possibly bedbug-bitten. (Though let’s face it, if you’re the kind of person to buy this on vinyl, you’ve long ago forsaken personal luxuries like a working vehicle, more than two pairs of pants, and food beyond ramen for the sake of your record collection. You have bedbugs. Just admit it.)

The trouble with reviewing a record as obviously painstakingly assembled with the utmost love and tender attention as this one is that one must resist the urge to summarily give it 5 stars just for effort. Mosaics ain’t a perfect record, not by a long shot. It’s neither era-defining nor game-changing. It’s really just more of the same from WCH, and while that is generally a pretty awesome thing, if you’re looking for another Dusk at Cubist Castle you’re going to be disappointed. However, if you come to M(M)os(os)aic(aics)s without expectations, it’s a very enjoyable couple of slabs of psychedelic pop run through the post-everything filter of the ‘90s indie scene. Songs are short and frequently abstract. There’s more nerdy intelligence here than at a conference on dead Continental philosophers. Plus: eight songs with the same title!

If Mosaics within Mosaics had come out in 1996, it would have been a very important record. Eighteen years later, while it’s still very listenable, its relevancy is diminished by the years. If the Elephant 6 scene somehow becomes revived by a new wave of admirers and emulators, then Mosaics will be seen as an important moment in that timeline. If not, it’s just a footnote to another era. Either way, if you need your sunshine-y fix of disjointed psychedelia, then this is the record you want to be listening to right now. That is, until The Olivia Tremor Control release The Same Place later this year.

reviewed by Richard Krueger