How Circuit Des Yeux will mingle musical, natural forces at Stephens Lake Park
On last fall's "-io," Circuit Des Yeux bandleader Haley Fohr's voice rises up from inside a whirlwind.
Orchestral arrangements storm around the Chicago-based songwriter, but the album isn't purely a show of power. Instruments advance, then recede; strength gives way to vulnerability in a seemingly endless dance. All this motion allows Fohr to sound notes of grief and resolve — and prove that, perhaps, the eye of the storm is where we are most ourselves.
Saturday, Fohr will become a force of nature again, melding her sound with the acoustics and spring-awakened atmosphere of Stephens Lake Park Amphitheater. There, Circuit Des Yeux will play the first concert of the Illuminations Summer Series from local music and art collective Dismal Niche.
The series will also feature rapper Billy Woods (June 11, Cafe Berlin) and jazz duo Anteloper (July 9, again at Stephens Lake).
Fohr expressed surprising foreknowledge of her one-night-only home at the park, and eagerness to craft a concert suited to such a natural venue.
"I’m a believer that environment is an additional instrument," she said.
The set she envisions for Columbia will feel "inviting" and "transportive," a collaboration with the lawn and trees, rather than a challenge to overcome. The band's tour design includes video projection that may or may not work, depending on the show's time and natural feel.
"I’ll definitely scrap that for a sunset every day," Fohr said.
More: How Columbia songwriter William Russell Wallace creates a dark cast of characters
'I think it feels really human'
The ten songs which comprise "-io" sound exquisite and mournful, as Fohr and Co. uncover beauty in the spaces between trauma, grief and isolation. Listeners no doubt relate to these phenomena — and during the pandemic, experienced them crescendo much as they do on the album, colliding and parting like clouds.
Tunneling through emotion, Fohr altered her creative process, writing largely on organ and piano instead of guitar. Sitting behind the organ lent her the space to write more rhythmically and to hear in harmony.
The instrument's overtones fostered a surprising development; often, Fohr heard orchestral arrangements unfold in the earliest moments of songwriting. Charting, then delivering them to her musical cohorts, horn players occasionally testified the parts weren't humanly possible to play, Fohr said with the hint of a laugh.
Offering each other humility and time, they finished arrangements together, bringing remarkably vivid colors to these songs.
Pushing through illness while recording vocals, Fohr opened her hands to let go of perfectionist tendencies. She took three passes at each song, choosing the take that felt best.
"In that way, I think it feels really human," she said of the album.
More: Roots N Blues headliners Old Crow Medicine Show paint with many colors on new album
The definitive vocal take on an album full of powerhouse performances arrives on the penultimate track, "Stranger." Fohr's natural instrument, typically the color of a wine-dark sea, grows against shimmering piano chords and scratchy strings.
By track's end, she becomes a vessel of incandescent light, her highest notes and soft, spellbinding murmurs transfixing the listener.
Recording the song, Fohr longed to give herself a gift — a vocal portrait of a particular moment in time. So she swore to attempt one take and one take only. When the session's engineer fretted over microphone placement and asked to try again, Fohr offered a stubborn but graceful "no."
Live, among the trees
Fohr plans to perform the catharsis of "Stranger" on Saturday night, she said. This tour reflects a more deliberate approach to live performance than past treks, which harnessed a "free-jazz leaning," she said.
The level of preparation this iteration of Circuit Des Yeux displays demands high levels of musicality and trust, Fohr said. But, when all is right, the approach yields rich delights — among them, the space to really focus on her singing.
"There’s a lot going around me, but I can focus on delivering my message — and that’s really cool. It feels clearer than before," Fohr said.
The inherent acoustic quality of Stephens Lake Park's amphitheater will fit and free Fohr's more operatic timbre; she looks forward to sending her notes through the open-air space.
"It’s definitely one of the more special shows on this small tour I’m doing," she said.
At the microphone, Fohr works out particular trauma and lends listeners musical language to navigate their own histories.
More: Different visions of country music ahead in upcoming Brothers Osborne, Jason Eady concerts
She casts her lot with the Portugese poet Fernando Pessoa, who once wrote, "What has happened to us has happened to everyone or only us; if to everyone, then it's no novelty, and if only to us, then it won't be understood."
Fohr's music threads a delicate needle between these sentences and their sentiments, she believes.
"Through these really isolating experiences, considering that these happen to other people and you’re not special in it — it can really heal you," she said.
Now, after such great feats of musical and emotional lifting, the songs of "-io" gravitate toward new colors and fulfill complementary meanings.
"When I wrote everything, it was just so dark and terse and dense. And now, when I perform them, it feels powerful and almost a lighter shade," Fohr said. "There’s definitely some positivity imbued in that music as well. When I’m playing them live, I can really feel it coming through — and I’m grateful for that."
Saturday's show takes place at 7 p.m.; the Onishi/Beis Duo shares the bill. Tickets range from $10 to $20. Learn more at https://cargocollective.com/dismalniche.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Circuit Des Yeux to mingle musical, natural forces at Stephens Lake Park
