Premiere: Odd Circus ‘Arch Nova’ – New EP Of Improv Jazz Fusion Releases This Friday

It’s been a day of jazz at The Shaman as if you missed it earlier, we published Maxwell’s review of Kilter and their take on jazz metal with their latest EP Sys, and now it’s time to bring you the improv jazz fusion three-piece Odd Circus and their latest EP Arch Nova, the second release in a planned series through the bands own Good Idea Music.

Odd Circus - Photo by Trevor Hall
Odd Circus – Photo by Trevor Hall

If you have a hankering for Mothers of Invention era Zappa along with elements of kraut, psych and prog, albeit sans guitar, then you’ve come to the right place as Odd Circus will be just the ticket. The band comments on what makes them tick, ‘One of our favorite things to do as a band is to take time exploring uncomfortable spaces. What’s comfortable, what’s easy those feel to us like traps. Instead, the challenge is to seek out some unfamiliar territory and see if we can find something unexpected there. That seems much more interesting.’

Odd Circus 'Arch Nova'

And on the four cuts that make up Arch Nova the trio reflects, ‘In these tracks we felt an element of danger and uneasiness, and that suspenseful vibe felt like it told a story. We imagine a post-apocalyptic world littered with man-eating mutants, as our main character navigates his way to humanity’s last refuge – Arch Nova. Along the way, a relentless killer and former military commander chases him for sport. We don’t want to spoil the ending, so as to whether he makes it, you’ll just have to listen and decide for yourselves.’

Does that make sense? Good, now click play to enter the freak-out zone with Odd Circus and Arch Nova

More On Odd Cirus & ‘Arch Nova’

Forged in improvisation, Odd Circus’ music explores the suspension of space and time navigating a boundary-less sonic landscape that embraces the unknown and welcomes the bizarre. The result is an experimental style of psychedelic art-rock that weaves its way into garage, fusion, krautrock, no wave, post-rock, noise, hard psych, and sci-fi prog.

After operating underground for several years, Odd Circus – saxophonist Graham Robertson, drummer Partin Whitaker, and bassist/sound engineer Crews Carter – debuted its first release Lunatic Children in 2019 and soon amassed a cult following on Instagram. The band re-entered the studio in July 2020 and kicked off the first of a series of releases from these sessions in April 2021 with Mantha – a bold six-track EP imagining aural visitations from supernatural creatures.

Odd Circus - Photo by Trevor Hall
Odd Circus – Photo by Trevor Hall

Compiled from free improvisations performed live from July 22nd to July 30th, 2020, Arch Nova follows the recent release of the band’s critically lauded Mantha EP and serves as the second installment of a planned EP series. The release was recorded by the band, mixed by Crews Carter and Odd Circus, and mastered by Joseph Carra at Crystal Mastering in Melbourne, Australia with cover art by Ahmad Lutfi a.k.a. Pert Doherty.

Arch Nova Tracklisting:
01. Maniac
02. Wasteland
03. Hostiles
04. Arch Nova

Odd Circus is
Graham Robertson – Saxophones, FX
Partin Whitaker – Drums
Crews Carter – Bass, FX

Odd Circus will release their Arch Nova EP on June 25th via the bands own label Good Idea Music and pre-orders are available now over on Bandcamp.

Label: Good Idea Music
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram