Ground Control Touring

Circus Trees wield an anguish that beckons. Droning through a weighty sadness, their musical spell extends a hand, instead of turning in on itself, offering an open invitation to all misery-loving company. This is how the Marlborough, Massachusetts-based band started in 2018, and that’s how it has remained as members and sisters Giuliana, Finola, and Edmee continue to spin their sadness into listless post-rock.

Formed three years ago during their adolescence, Circus Trees brandished a unified tone from the start, as their first singles - 2018’s “Floating Still” and “Impermanence” - revealed their sunken melodies, carrying an emotional weight far beyond their years. “Impermanence” in particular was recorded at The Record Co. in Boston with Vanessa Silberman via her independent label and music company, A Diamond Heart Production. Their first music video, created for “Floating Still,” bears Circus Trees’ DIY ethos, captured entirely in nearby Lowell, Massachusetts against a fitting backdrop of busted ‘n’ bruised bricks and cobblestones. To date, the video has reached over 3,600 views.

The band chronicled their formative days in 2018 with a half-hour documentary also named Impermanence, making their formal introduction to the world from Five By Two Studios, their musical home base. Their arrangement remains the same in 2020: Finola, now 16, plays guitar and sings, Giuliana, 18, keeps the languid beat behind the drum kit, and Edmee, 14, holds down the band’s heaviness on bass.

2019 saw the release of the band’s first EP, Sakura, released digitally and on vinyl on March 3. The four-track effort was recorded at Getaway Studios in Haverhill, Massachusetts with Boston producer and studio owner Jay Maas.

Aside from shows scattered throughout New England in cities like Manchester (NH), Worcester (MA), and Burlington (VT), the sisters earned multiple opportunities to take the stage with musically similar peers at major events last year, such as TRC Fest at the Sinclair, Post New England at Jewel Nightclub, and Post Fest in Indianapolis, Indiana. Along the way, they caught the attention of Caspian guitarist Erin Burke-Moran, who proudly sported a Circus Trees shirt every night of Caspian’s 2019 tour with Minus The Bear. By the end of the year, Circus Trees had garnered a Boston Music Awards nomination for “Best Metal Act” alongside other established scene staples like Set Fire, Worshipper, and Glacier.

For their debut full-length record Delusions, Circus Trees tapped Jay Maas once again to work with them on this especially pointed collection of six new songs.

Delusions is a record that’s fortified with feeling, yet malleable; brimming with emotion, the trio twists heady sadcore into something vacant, leaving space for the listener to safely and subconsciously mingle with their moods. Delusions is a harsh place, but it’s a human place, too, bringing a new intimacy to Circus Trees’ songwriting dynamic. A vinyl pressing of the record will follow.

“The songs on this album are much more personal than the last, where we focused on themes of love and loss in the abstract,” Circus Trees share of Delusions. “This album reflects more introspection, and comes from the emotions felt personally from one or more members of the band, based on events that naturally happen growing up. Still love and loss and sadness, but much less distant to us as individual human beings.”