Originally released in 1999, this was the debut album by The Slambovian Circus of Dreams (who have slightly changed their name a few times over the years), released on their own label it was never available in the UK until now, where it has just seen a 25th anniversary reissue care of Talking Elephant Records. I really enjoyed their last release, 2022’s ‘A Very Unusual Head’ (also on Talkin Elephant), so was looking forward to this and was not disappointed. Frontman Joziah Longo is very much to the fore, and there are times when it feels almost like a singer-songwriter album with some backing musicians, while at others it is a full on band. It feels very much like a release which is out of time, dated when it came out originally, as it has a very Seventies feel bringing together as it does influences from the likes of The Band (in particular), loads of Neil Young while also containing elements from Lightfoot, Bowie and Barrett.

This is Americana, American folk, singer-songwriter all combined with musicians who are more than happy to bring in electric guitars and rock elements to provide emphasis and take the music in a very different direction indeed. It is music to fall inside, where the modern world no longer exists and we are instead listening to modern troubadours who are not following modern fickle fashion but instead get as up to date as the early Eighties with “My Girl” which could and should have been a hit single at the time. If this were a new album then one might say they were also influenced by the likes of Mumford and Sons, but given they were formed eight years after this album was originally released perhaps it was the other way around? There is a delicacy but also a substance, deference but also resolve, which makes this an album which can be played time and again as there is so much to uncover.

Rating: 9/10

Links:
https://slambovia.com/
https://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/