Circa Waves - Never Going Under (Japanese Edition) (2023)

Liverpool's Circa Waves have built a career around writing songs that get you dancing while also pushing you to the verge of tears. It's a dichotomously cathartic vibe they brought to full flower on 2020's Sad Happy, and one that again drives their often moving fifth album, 2023's Never Going Under. Centered on singer/songwriter Kieran Shudall, Circa Waves make earnest yet still wryly delivered songs that are equal parts '90s-style Britpop and early-2000s post-punk -- think Blur meets the Killers meets the Strokes and you'll get a good sense of the band's sound here. What sets them apart from their influences is Shudall's knack for weaving what feels like his own personal experience into relatable anthems that capture the moment. If Sad Happy was about the ennui of hitting one's thirties, then Never Going Under is about becoming a parent and worrying about what the future may bring to you and your family, especially in the wake of a worldwide pandemic, ever-increasing environmental concerns, and widespread political unrest -- all themes that Shudall wrestles with here. However, where Sad Happy was stylistically rangy with an underpinning of instrumental experimentation, Never Going Under is the most direct and nervy Circa Waves have sounded since 2015's Young Chasers. Heralding the zeitgeisty vibes is "Hell on Earth," a crackling dance-rock anthem in the vein of Blur's "Song 2" that's shot through with a pyrrhic, throw-your-hands-in-the-air surrender. The song perfectly encapsulates the feeling of a world slipping away in front of your eyes as Shudall sings, "And everyone's unhealthy and no one's getting laid/And when I bump into my friends, I don't know what to say." Emotionally gutting yet somehow intensely thrilling moments pop up elsewhere, as on the sparkling, U2-esque "Carry You Home," in which Shudall reaches for a bit of light in dark times, admitting, "I watch the world fall/As my son begins to crawl/Oh, I hope he sees it all." It's that distinctly human sense of discovery and the yearning for a better tomorrow, even as the world crumbles around you, that Circa Waves capture on Never Going Under.