Russian Circles

Chicago three-piece Russian Circles, known for their massive instrumental rock concoctions, are set to release their fifth LP, Memorial, on October 29th on Sargent House. Bassist Brian Cook calls the record “straightforward, intense, heavy,” adding, “We subconsciously gravitated toward darker and more somber sounds. We wanted to get away from the overtly flashy.”

The LP is available here for pre-order as part of a bundle that includes a poster, T-shirt and the music on disc or colored vinyl, and you can listen to the gorgeous song “Memorial,” a slow-burning meditative number that features guest vocals from singer and songwriter Chelsea Wolfe.

“We’ve toured with Chelsea and are all big fans,” Cook says. “We felt like her work and what we do is stylistically different, but thematically it fits. We’re both more sad and grind-you-into-the-dirt-with-misery. We went through so many permutations of that song, we got into this idea of doing a reprise like one of those albums that starts off and ends at the same spot. Like Pink Floyd’s Animals: open with a stripped down version of the song and end with the full band song.”