Opaque - Break The Circle
- Building Burning Bridges
- Ball Of Fire
- They Chose To Lead Us
- Anything You Want
- Karma
- Billy The Circus Freak
- The Lady Is A Tramp
- Butterflies
- Taken By Surprise
- The Way It Seemed
- Rise & Fall Of God
- Unity
- It's All About The Music
Press Release
“Psychedelic indie folktronica? The band that refuses to be pigeonholed is back with a new album of beautifully crafted songs ”
Break The Circle, the new album from Opaque, out May 2009 on
Drip Dry Productions
Renowned as the most original band to hail from the city of Peterborough, the members of Opaque have garnered attention from across the UK since their formation in 2002 – taking to the stage to support the likes of Kasabian, The Kooks, Biffy Clyro and more. The festival fields of England soon became their regular haunt and they’ve been invited to play everywhere from Secret Garden Party to Bestival and Small World. Opaque’s debut album, The Last Moustache, won over a new legion of fans and the band’s philanthropic nature saw them get busy organising their own festival, GrassRoots, and setting up the Muddy Promotions arts collective (www.muddy.org.uk) while touring the album throughout 2006.
This fruitful time saw Opaque win plenty of recognition for their artistic endeavours – they were nominated at the 2008 Indy Awards for best alternative act, sold almost 1000 hard copies of The Last Moustache and started a community record label, Drip Dry Productions, cementing their DIY approach to merry music making. Such a creative burst of industry can be a hard act to follow but the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome was avoided by this bunch of troubadours… who even brought in a collection of new musicians and instruments for Break The Circle, with cello, saxophone and piano all adding a layer of melody to the songs. Recorded over 12 months at The Glass Onion, home to the Muddy collective, the album was engineered and produced by band members Benny and Moony. The year-long production mirrors the cyclical themes behind the album nicely and, when not recording, Opaque were busy signing a management deal with Peter Jones (of Dragon’s Den fame) and touring with Dragon’s Den winners, Hamfatter.
The album’s title, Break The Circle, was taken from the chorus line of the opening track – Building Burning Bridges, a lament about harmful relationships that you entrench yourself in, despite the knowledge that change is necessary. However, the album title has a myriad of meanings and references for the band.
Opaque’s lead singer, Moony, said, “For me it’s a general ethos about breaking bad habits or any destructive cycles in your life, from bad relationships to drub habits. It’s more than just that though, it’s also in recognition of the many cycles and circles that surround us all the time – from the planets to the seasons – and the effects of breaking these circles. And it’s a call, a call for anarchy and change. So it’s many things in one.”
Break The Circle marks a departure from catchy pop and takes the fork in the road that leads to a little extra meat on their symphonic bones. It’s a welcome and natural development for Opaque’s sound, a sound that is still unmistakably Opaquian but signals a more introspective, multi-layered approach to song crafting that still features an eclectic mix of jaunty rock and electro sprinklings. A wonderful addition to the album is a demonstration of all that the Opaque boys hold dear in the mould of an 11-minute version of My Favourite Things, which features a plethora of friends and fellow musicians adding extra verses. The album has seen the band flex their creative muscles, bringing on board talented illustrator Lee Mason to create the karmic themed artwork, and it is being sold in three guises: -
• Break the circle (standard) – £8
• Break The Circle (deluxe) – double CD including remix CD all housed in a gatefold vinyl pack with lyrics and poster £12
The first single from the album is entitled Karma and also includes the politically antagonising They Chose To Lead Us. Opaque will be touring extensively throughout the summer so head to www.myspace.com/bandopaque for details
Email: opaque_moony@hotmal.com
Website: www.bandopaque.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/bandopaque
Management: www.JamieTurnerNewMusic.co.uk
"For me it’s a general ethos about breaking bad habits or any destructive cycles in your life, from bad relationships to drub habits."
ReplyDeleteYes! Just say no! to DRUBS!