Circuit des yeux - -io (2021)

Haley Fohr has interpreted profound revelations and personal visions through her fascinating body of work as Circuit des Yeux, particularly on standout full-lengths like Overdue, In Plain Speech, and Reaching for Indigo. The project's sixth album, -io, moves beyond the ethereal indie folk and noise rock of her past releases, this time featuring expansive orchestral instrumentation. Fohr primarily wrote the songs on piano and organ rather than guitar, and she meticulously arranged and produced them on her home computer, recording in COVID-restricted sessions with six additional musicians at a time. The album came to fruition after an extended period of grieving and deep depression following the loss of a close friend, and the lyrics reflect the sensations of fading light, disbelief, and displacement. "Vanishing" is a propulsive, string-laden memorial in which Fohr says goodbye to numerous specific moments and details, dramatically intoning expressions of loss: "fading, falling, melting, sinking." "Dogma" has a more hypnotic, motorik rhythm and glittering synth sequences, rather than the string-heavy arrangements of the rest of the album, and the lyrics seem to refer to coping and finding one's footing. "The Chase" is more erratic, with a nervously puttering kick drum and whispered introductory vocals, as well as angular guitar patterns giving way to whirring glitches. "Neutron Star" is a dramatic, Spaghetti Western-esque ballad that poetically describes Fohr's friend's ascension to the cosmos. The sparse, piano-based "Stranger" recalls Fohr's most haunting early work, but with clearer production, as she's driven to unleash harrowing howls after a chance encounter on the street conjures thoughts of what could have been. Fohr's lyrics draw from personal experiences as well as scientific phenomena, and she elevates them with her dynamic, sometimes earth-shaking arrangements.~io Review by Paul Simpson