Russian Circles took their time on the cross-country drive from Chicago to Red Room Recording in Seattle, which Bayles co-owns with Chris Common. They spent a few relaxing days sightseeing in places such as Yellowstone National Park, and the effects of the peaceful trip can be felt in their recordings. “Not to be lame,” Sullivan says, “but the drive out there definitely affected the mood of the record. It made it a bit prettier.”

The record does have a distinctly open, airy feel. True to their vision, it is more accessible than their previous material, demonstrated by delicate opening number “Campaign,” and somber “Versus.” That’s not to say that they’ve lost their edge, if riff-heavy “Station” and thrash-inducing, heart-pounding “Youngblood” are any indication. Although it is a bit of a departure from their first record, it retains trademarks of their sound. No song maintains the same mood throughout its entirety. Listening to either Russian Circles album is to course though a huge gamut of emotions.

Turncrantz anticipates a surprised reaction from their audience in response to their evolving sound. “People don’t understand, they think they’re going to buy a record, and it’s going to be real noodley, like Enter. Before we did the new record we were like ‘Dude, it’s going to be massive, its going to be so heavy!” and of course, all the songs turn out to be really pretty.’ That’s what we’re going for. We wanted to write more of a timeless record that people could listen to ten years later.”

- Jamie Ludwig

Russian Circles: www.russiancircles.net

MySpace: www.myspace.com/russiancircles

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Posted to Music Features on Monday, June 30th, 2008 by britt.