Unwed Sailor: Circles
Burnt Toast Vinyl

Though Circles, a 2006 EP recorded by Unwed Sailor's Johnathon Ford in collaboration with Dan Burton (Early Day Miners), guitarist Phillip Blackwell (Questions in Dialect), and Matt Griffin, originally was intended to be part of Unwed Sailor's The White Ox, the EP's resultant material suggested that a stand-alone presentation might be more appropriate.

Prodded by the simplest of drum patterns, the eleven-minute “Mist” presents a slow and ponderous procession through a sultry haze of willowy electronic atmospheres and crystalline tones. That peaceful episode eventually is swallowed by a rising guitar cloud that sets the stage for the five-minute “ Mesa ” whose uplifting melodies and animated bass and drum tandem provides a sunlit conclusion to the EP. Without a doubt, Circles is short and definitely sweet, but I still contend that (just as I did in my earlier The White Ox review) the 33-minute ‘full-length' and EP, regardless of their sonic differences, could just as easily have been issued together as a single CD release.

October 2007