Interview: Circuit des Yeux
“I think everyone's looking for self-reflection in all art,” says Haley Fohr. “A piece of themselves to be represented.”
Written in a period during which she was consumed by the personal trauma of losing a close friend, then driven into isolation by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fohr’s latest album as Circuit des Yeux, -io, is her most fervent to date. Accompanied by a number of immensely talented musicians from Chicago’s experimental scene, Fohr’s swelling symphonic compositions over the 10 tracks reach levels of grandeur that she’s only hinted at on previous recordings. Meanwhile, her oft-cryptic lyrics maintain a deep human connectivity that’s heightened by the tense melodrama of the arrangements.
At the center of it all is Fohr’s voice. Classically trained as a vocalist from a young age, she possesses a distinct contralto with dynamic four-octave range. If music is just a mode of communication, her voice is her greatest tool for self-expression — and with it, she doesn’t just communicate, she unleashes colossal tidal waves of feelings.
It’s this impeccable ability to articulate complex emotional abstractions into powerful musical compositions that makes Circuit des Yeux such a musical force — one that’s consuming to hear. Technical skill has limited value if the artist has nothing of meaning to express, but by collaborating with remarkably skilled musicians, Fohr and her bandmates have an incredible artistic vocabulary through which to construct transcendent journeys for listeners.
For many artists, the compulsion to create derives from the need to process abstract ideas and emotions in a less direct manner than traditional forms of communication. It’s this deeper relationship between an artist and their work that can make it so fascinating and affecting to listeners.
Speaking about her own therapeutic relationship with making music, Fohr reflects, “It vacillates regarding where I am in life. I certainly started the project in a catharsis, and sort of feeling trapped by reality, with no mode of communication that felt natural. That's why I came into music. I think with [-io], I sort of reverted back to those tendencies — just because of the world we were all in. It was isolated. It's just like a natural progression/regression — whatever you wanna call it.”
As healing a process that writing and recording as Circuit des Yeux has been for Fohr, it’s also been emotionally and creatively taxing. Her fictionalized alter-ego sideproject, Jackie Lynn, provides a means of relief from some of that.
“Jackie Lynn is like cosplay to me. It's embodied in this hyper-femininity that I don't have,” she says. “Both of the Jackie Lynn records I have done have a complete narrative arc — that I don't explicitly explain, and I don't think I ever will. It's like theater for me.”
Ever since hearing Jackie Lynn’s 2020 album, Jacqueline, the song "Shugar Water" has given me strong Sparks vibes. Fohr assured me that I’m not alone.
“Yeah, I love that band so much,” she says. “It was kind of a happy accident. When we wrote the song and recorded it, we were like ‘Oh shit! It sounds like the Sparks song.’ But that's another part of that project — that it's a collaboration with just me and [Cave guitarist/organist Cooper Crain’s side project] Bitchin Bajas, and we sort of embrace influence and celebrate inspiration from other projects that are time based. We love late ’70s sounds, so when we realized ‘Shugar Water’ had a Sparks vibe, we just rolled with it.”
Returning to Asheville for the first time since 2018, Circuit des Yeux will be at The Grey Eagle on Sunday, June 5, with opening support from local electronic composer and former Chicago resident Brett Naucke. And like many others, the band has had mixed luck on the road since the start of 2022.
“If you tour right now, you're going to get COVID,” Fohr says. “I'm lucky that everyone in my band recovered. We don't have any long-term, lingering effects. But yeah, I've done three tours and one was curtailed from COVID. So there's good luck and bad luck, and we persevere.”
With everyone stuck at home over the past two years, the show-going experience has been refreshed — the rejuvenated relationship between fans and the performer feels like it did when it still felt new and exciting. Speaking about finally getting to play her latest batch of songs to live audiences for the first time, Fohr remarks, “It's been great. It's heavy. People have a lot to say. It's lovely. Because there's a stagnation that I have felt not being able to perform live — now that the veil's slowly lifting — it's gorgeous.”
To Fohr, playing live music is not to be approached casually. “It is total dedication — and it's not that the audience has to give that back in return, but it's definitely a fine line of comfort, just like there has to be a lot of vulnerability and acceptance in the room for it to feel right,” she says.
Music as richly orchestrated as what Circuit des Yeux produced with -io is not easy to recreate live, considering that small independent artists can’t feasibly travel with orchestral backing. But don’t let that dissuade you from catching Circuit des Yeux on tour.
Released in May, Circuit des Yeux’s Live in Chicago EP showcases the intensity with which Fohr and her bandmates Whitney Johnson, Andrew Scott Young, and Ashley Guerrero perform stripped down arrangements of their latest material. Reduced to a quintet, the conjured sounds still carry the haunted melodrama of the recordings while hitting with a heavier, more aggressive punch.
As bold and affecting as their recordings are, Fohr and Circuit des Yeux are undoubtedly at their most enrapturing when performing live, so this one is not to be missed.
IF YOU GO
Who: Circuit des Yeux + Brett Naucke
When: Sunday, June 5, 7 p.m.
Where: The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave., thegreyeagle.com
Tickets: $15
(Photos by Evan Jenkins)
