Songs About Dancing and Drugs (Bonus Track Version)

With a title as blunt as Songs About Dancing and Drugs, you’d think Circlesquare’s second album couldn’t have clearer intentions. That said, there’s more to it than hedonistic hymns and music that makes you move whether you’ve got rhythm or not. “Dancers” is what it is — a camera roaming over the contorted limbs of a dimly-lit club, reminding us how “we’re all dancers” here amongst sucker punch beats and speaker-testing bass lines. Circlesquare’s strengths lie in deeper cuts, though, as he tightens and expands his decidedly minimal sound through sweeping synths and stargazing balladry (“Music For Satellites”), post-apocalyptic rock ‘n’ roll with an increasingly chaotic pulse (“Ten to One”), and a 13-minute epic that pulls the listener in like a tightly-woven short story (“All Live But the Ending”). All of which play out like a night that refuses to end, only you won't be nursing your head the next day. You’ll simply want to hit play again.