Circus Mirkus were among the first of the Class of 2022 to announce their participation accompanied by a mysterious press release along with a single photo of a bearded man in an Elizabethan ruff strumming a lute. It’s the kind of stunt that heralds something ether deeply interesting or deeply, deeply annoying.
The air of mystery continues now we have the song, but still no hint as to who the performers themselves actually are. A first version of the video cleverly parodies the You Tube video unavailable logo with a reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; a second ‘official’ version feature only cartoon renderings of the band with garishly coloured faces, presumably submitted to circumvent the overt political statement of the first. We finally got the full version full of circus performers and ruff-man charting the whereabouts of people on a map only to be none the wiser.
The song is a curious piece of electronic mashing up of genres beyond my reference points but with elements of funky experimental jazz. There’s a catchy pre-chorus consisting of the repeated phrase “Take me to the spacecraft, take me to dance club” which is pleasantly engaging.
This has all manner of potential, both to dazzle and to die a death based on the stage presentation alone. It feels this will remain a closely guarded secret until press finally get to glimpse a rehearsal.
My marks: 6 points