Haley Fohr aka Circuit Des Yeux has announced the follow-up to 2017’s Reaching For Indigo (and last year’s album from side project Jackie Lynn): it’s called -io and will come out on October 22 via her new label home, Matador. With both the pandemic and a close personal loss informing the background, it’s no surprise that Fohr describes the album as a place where “everything is ending all the time” – and she’s backed by a 24-piece string, brass, and wind ensemble to boot.
The first song to be shared is “Dogma”, with Fohr saying: “Where there is faith there is violence. The story of civilization is complicated and layered with dogmas. At each individual’s incentive lies both a beacon and an instinct. The fool follows the outer while the idiot chases her interior. Society is a necessary subversion of the self. It is through time that our quiet alarms grow with great intensity until emancipation through implosion or explosion become imminent.”
With popping percussion forming the backbone, “Dogma” has a swagger that emboldens Fohr’s chasmic voice – here used to deadly effect in her cold, withering look at humans’ oblivious and unquestioning way of floating through their lives. “If it’s good for you, then it’s good for me,” she sings in naïve tones, before swooping to a lower register and cutting this mentality down to size: “follow it around like a dog on a leash.” Currents of swirling synths start to form little whirlpools of sound beneath, giving “Dogma” even greater pull, its hypnotism unavoidable – especially with Fohr’s commanding voice sailing atop. A song that at once induces mindless following and simultaneously condemns that behaviour, “Dogma” is a hugely impressive introduction to this next chapter for Circuit Des Yeux.
Fohr wrote and co-directed the video for “Dogma” (with Rudy Rubio), and you can watch it below. Otherwise, find “Dogma” on streaming platforms.
Circuit Des Yeux’s new album -io comes out on October 22 through Matador (pre-order/save). You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
