the press

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Photo by Liz Linder

Cover illustration by Brian Dewan

Click here to download promotional material on Dreamland.

PRESS QUOTES

"Beat Circus has created a singular intriguing sonic identity by filtering certain bizarre old-time American and European pre-jazz styles through a progressive contemporary fearlessness" -- Weekly Planet

"Beat Circus evokes a period so distant that it might seem like a Dreamland, transporting listeners to a world that's alluring and eerie." -- Mark Jenkins, Washington Post

"The music and the wonderfully well-realized arrangements of Dreamland are, if anything, better than on the band's debut...the stylistically varied results make for a wonderfully imaginative record. Instrumental tracks like the opener "Gyp the Blood," and the mad Balkan dance tune "Slavochka" work the same stylistic street as folks like Beirut and A Hawk and a Hacksaw, while the more experimental pop-oriented songs recall the warped imagination of Elephant 6 associated eccentrics the Music Tapes. Fans of any of those acts will find much to love here. " -- Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

"Dreamland realizes a lushly imaginative American mythology...a surreal melange" -- Time Out New York

"Beat Circus could be the house band for the dark carnival in Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, its full-length CD Ringleaders Revolt the accompaniment to some faded old black-and-white cartoon..." -- Scott Harrell, Creative Loafing

"Dreamland is an ambitious new Brechtian concept album with rich and tight orchestration..." -- New Yorker

"Their narrative songs evoke cabaret, Wild West saloons, circus sideshows, and Old World gypsies...but the prodigious musicianship and stylistic miscegenation is all modern; the results, refreshingly entertaining." -- Sean Fitzell, All About Jazz New York

"A fantasy locale of carnival nostalgia and Victrola nightmares..." -- Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper

"A jagged-edged, tightly-structured, nearly big-band form of bluegrass, they were the highlight of the night's music, with layers of sound packed with wit, energy, and dead-on musicianship." -- EDGE Boston