The Big Top

Circles Around The Sun’s fourth studio album traverses towards galaxies unknown – Language is the sound of a rock band rebounding from unthinkable adversity, moving as one to confidently author their next chapter. Synth-drenched excursions into outer-spatial sound design, the six-song release welcomes guitarist John Lee Shannon to the fold, a longtime peer and tourmate who joins bassist Dan Horne, keyboardist Adam MacDougall, and drummer Mark Levy.

The forthcoming release builds on the cosmic-disco vibe of 2020’s eponymous LP. The Floydian tongues on Language represent a new dawn, as evidenced by an ethereal title-track featuring harpist Mikaela Davis. The new material finds them oscillating through hybrid strains of disco-funk, soul jazz, and psychedelic rock, harnessing their stylistic lanes into a singular, intoxicating brew.

“We had been partying on other planets for a while when we found our new guy John Lee Shannon. We all got in the studio and played disco ball dodgeball for a while and this is what we came up with. There’s a bit of a different arc to Language. The first couple songs are gonna put you in a certain headspace, and then the party happens later on,” notes bassist Dan Horne on the creation of the new record.

The band immersed themselves in sound design research at Horne’s Echo Park studio, Liberty Hair Farm. Longtime creative partners dove into exploration mode, probing the limitless potential of an arsenal of synthesizers, sequencers, and other vintage electronic instrumentation.

Soon the seeds were sown for Circles Around The Sun’s fourth full-length album Language, dropping Spring 2023.
All ages.

There is a $3 minor surcharge at the door.

Mercurial Savannah, Georgia-based singer/songwriter/musician Kortney “Mali Music” Pollard builds richly detailed, emotionally present neo-soul/hip-hop confections in the vein of Lauryn Hill, D’Angelo, and Bilal, on a foundation of conventional gospel music. Although he began recording in the late 2000s, it wasn’t until 2014 that he broke through to mainstream success with the Grammy-nominated Mali Is…. Pollard’s 2017 follow-up The Transition of Mali added a clutch of further hits to his catalog. Following a Grammy win for “Movin’ On,” his 2020 duet with Jonathan McReynolds, the two musicians released a 2021 EP together.

The Coming

Pollard was born on January 12, 1988 in Phoenix, Arizona. A multi-instrumentalist since the age of five, Pollard, who counts Sam Cooke and Otis Redding as influences, issued the inspirational Coming, his debut album, in 2008. The well-received, bold, narrative-driven 2econd Coming arrived the following year, resulting in a major-label record deal with RCA, who issued the singles “Ready Aim” and “Beautiful” in 2013 in anticipation of his upcoming third long-player, Mali Is…, which dropped in early 2014. It proved to be a breakout release for Pollard, reaching number 16 on the Billboard 200 and earning a Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Although his next album, 2017’s The Transition of Mali, didn’t fare quite as well, it still enjoyed success on multiple charts and yielded some of his most popular tracks including the Jhene Aiko duet “Contradiction” and “Loved By You” featuring Jazmine Sullivan. After switching from RCA to the Provident label, Mali Music released his fifth album, The Book of Mali, in August 2020. That same year he joined Jonathan McReynolds on the single “Movin’ On,” which went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance/Song. The two artists teamed up again in 2021 for the joint EP Jonny x Mali: Live in LA.
All ages.
There is a $3 minor surcharge at the door.