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ERASING CLOUDS
Circus Devils stands as the Rodney Dangerfield of Robert Pollard projects, the one that gets the least respect, probably because their music freaks people out too much. It should; across eight LPs, the Circus Devils have created a vivid freakshow world of darkness and demons and general ugliness, with an avant-rock spirit of anything goes and a movie lover's sense for cinematic detail and scope.
Their latest is no different. It's immediate, moody, nightmarish, morbid, and darkly humorous. The opening track "Sub Rat" starts as pure mood, and then crashes in with an assault and a promise of secrets: "you've got something in the suitcase / and it's really far out". Paranoia is the keyword this time. Everywhere people are trying to get you, to put you in a freezer or a cave. There's an insect lurking, a germ circus "always around" and "eating up the kids". The ominous "We Don't Need to Know Who You Are" suggests a secret society.
The music is epic as always, and fierce, with thick heavy metal riffs. If it's a metal album it's also a circus album, like Tom Waits and Black Sabbath meeting in a cavern. Sometimes it seems like Circus Devils are rewriting hard-rock history as being all about giant spiders ("8 Legs to Love")...but wait, isn't that what it was always about?
All of this interest in evil and emulation of a confused mind-state can't help but seem like a commentary on current events, whether the songs clearly reference something that is going on, like war ("His Troops Are Loyal", a surreal take on blind following) or on the surface seem like fantasy literature. It's provocative music in more ways than one. There are plentiful concepts for listeners to delve into, within the music and the lyrics, and at the same time Mother Skinny is a sick, fun romp, an excuse to indulge in the scariest and weirdest of imagery.
-- Dave Heaton
The FIRE NOTE
Mother Skinny is just plain sinister art rock, that will keep your ear to your speaker so that you don't miss a beat. Robert Pollard has never sounded more scary with his evil cackle on "Germ Circus" or his stretched out slow delivery in "Lurking", which feels like he is literally and weirdly right behind you. Of course it is one thing to just have Bob freaking you out a bit with his lyrical wordplay but now add in the masters of noise called Tobias and their knack for instrumentation. On Mother Skinny their work is in full force, as there is plenty of manipulation of vocals and many additional screeches and scratches throughout the album. The record is more of a return to their earlier work but adds in very strong thumping beats and guitar riffs, that absolutely drive each of the twenty tracks down your throat. Once again, Mother Skinny is a record that separates itself from the Circus Devil's vast catalog and will be a fun ride for anybody who dares to put it in their player!
-- Aiden Rox
PopMatters
These kooky songs pack an awkward punch, and make some room for us, the listeners, to immerse ourselves in sounds that are more accessible without being any less weird.
If "icky-sticky" kook-pop and trudging, druggy rock are the two poles of the record, then the Circus Devils travel the huge space between them pretty well. Mother Skinny shows just enough focus to make it seem possible to make a consistent album based on a wholly inconsistent sound.
"Hard Art (Hard All Day)" is about as thundering as Pollard gets, with a crushing rock riff and vocal melodies belted out to the rafters, while something like "A New Nostalgia" is all disjointed atmosphere, kicked up for Pollard to mumble through. It's songs like "Freezer Burn" and "Sub Rat", though, that hint at the new success on this album. Those tracks run a middle ground between that theatrical atmosphere and those rafter-shaking riffs. The combination may seem like a dull middle ground, but it actually shows them at their most vital sounding.
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