Circles Around The Sun returned from the outer reaches of the cosmos to deliver unto Earth its latest interstellar voyage, “Third Sunrise Over Gliese 667”. The track is set to appear on the band’s fourth album, Language out on April 28th, and arrives alongside a fittingly engrossing music video from director Steve Mertens.
“Third Sunrise Over Gliese 667” explores the limits of existence both sonically and visually. The song is caked in Pink Floyd influences, from the opening “Echoes”-y banshee howl to the “On The Run” chugging build. It’s likely no coincidence the track arrived on the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon.
“[Keyboardist] Adam [MacDougall] and I spent the last few months of 2021 on an intense early Pink Floyd kick, and this song was obviously very inspired by revisiting those first few albums,” guitarist John Lee Shannon told Relix. “The result is a good old-fashioned barn burning rock and roller. Easily the most aggressive song that CATS has ever recorded.”
The single is emblematic of the ethereal, synth-driven sound MacDougall has steered the band toward following founding guitarist Neal Casal‘s suicide in 2019. With the keyboardist guiding the instrumental jam vessel, guitarist John Lee Shannon at his command position, and Dan Horne and Mark Levy keeping the engines running, Circles Around The Sun is merely at the beginning of an adventure to rival that of Mertens’ “Third Sunrise Over Gliese 667” music video.
As the director said of the visual accompaniment, “Dan originally came to me with the idea of doing a science fiction video for a song he said sounded ‘spacey.’ He had the idea that an alien race had built a giant ring around a star, or a ‘circle around the sun.’ I got to work on building a circular space city with 3D graphics, and coming up with a story in my head. I wanted the video to be really colorful, and the style to be somewhere in between 50s sci-fi movies, 80s sci-fi toys, and a DMT trip. It ended up being the story of a dwarf and his robot dog, finding and releasing his female clone from suspended animation in an alien temple and bringing her home, where they mind meld. The band pretty much gave me creative freedom, which was a joy for me. The song is very cinematic, and being an instrumental, the video almost feels like a short movie with the song as its soundtrack.”
Check out the new music video for Circles Around The Sun’s “Third Sunrise Over Gliese 667” and pre-order Language here. CATS are currently out on tour with Jenny O., playing next on March 8th in Cleveland. Tickets and a full list of tour dates are available on the band’s website.
Circles Around The Sun – “Third Sunrise Over Gliese 667” (Official Video)