The Heavy Circles Issue #35

The Heavy Circles (Dynamite Child)

By Erin Wolf
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 1:41pm

“I know what I know / if you know what I mean?” Remember the one-hit wonder by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians? “What I Am” was made famous on the 1988 album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, making Edie Brickell a household name with her expressive voice. Her 2008 resurfacing finds her in the Heavy Circles, paired up with stepson Harper Simon (child of Paul Simon).

Calling on creative pals Sean Lennon, Martha Wainwright, Yuka Honda, Inara George, and Miho Hitori, but leaving the focus on Simon and Brickell’s initial spontaneous jam sessions, The Heavy Circles encompasses the impromptu. Brickell benefited from Simon’s own musical flexibility, creating new directions from her original adult-contemporary stylings. Although with a softer sound before, the songwriting process had not necessarily been a cakewalk for Brickell. “I’ve gone from wrestling bears in the woods to petting a cat on the front porch,” she explains of her new songwriting experiences with Simon.

Easy is as easy does, but the Heavy Circles opening track “Henri” does not necessarily lead one by the hand to Easy Street. A filler song, not particularly lyrically captivating nor sonically congruent, with its foray into world music, “Henri” breathes a sigh of relief as it ends and continues contrastingly into “Better,” a startlingly bouncy and jazzed-up piano exercise that is Chicago minus the horns and sucks Brickell back into her vocal days of yore. True ground is hit by the third track, “Ready to Play,” with its bluesy tone and grit, which plays nicer with the prettier piano ballads such as “Confused” and “Easier,” where Brickell’s voice shines when paired with Martha Wainwright’s airy backups.

The Heavy Circles misstep again from the gritty-versus-pretty formula with the reggae-styled “Need a Friend.” They pick themselves up with the garage-tough “Dynamite Child” and the spaced-out wave of closer “Oh Darling.” Despite some fall-down flats and the short-changed lyrical quality, the meticulous composition of the songs and the musicianship leave a tangled but polished web of sounds that is enjoyable, albeit unastounding.