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Written by Matthew Cheney
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 Based in Bristol, UK Arctic Circle are a 7-piece
multi-instrumental pop band led by professional daydreamer Matthew
Cheney. Despite this being their first proper album, they have
previously existed in various incarnations in Glasgow, Edinburgh and
Vancouver. They play like a school orchestra abandoned by its
conductor, left alone with the key to the instrument cupboard. Arctic
Circle lodge infectious melodies and brittle harmonies so deep into
your head that you’ll be whistling their merry tunes as you walk but
cursing their name as you try to get to sleep. They embrace boy/girl
vocals and have a box of tricks that includes accordion, clarinet,
glockenspiel, effects pedals, pan lids, melodica, analogue electronics
and all the rest. At live gigs the stage often resembles a jumble sale,
echoing their love of homespun aesthetics and languid afternoons. Their
humdrum lyrics tinker with domesticity and pithy politics yet they
somehow unearth the poetics of yearning that lurks deep within the
washing up. Musically, they knuckle down and waft away, soaring up
above the terracotta in a haze of triumphant psychedelic glory. Arctic
Circle pride themselves on only once having been told to keep it down
by neighbours. Instead a pair of feet usually appear underneath the
garage door where they practice, and those feet are at the end of a
pair of legs, and those legs head north up to a neck, and the neck
leads to a mouth and the words waiting in that mouth are “can I join?”
This is how there came to be 7. But like the tortoise they’ll get there
in the end – no pushing, no shoving, no underhand tactics, just a good
clean show.
Our Discography:
 see aso:
'arctic circle are currently on hiatus'
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