Haley Fohr’s versatility and ambition have made her one of Chicago’s most exciting musical talents. Her alter ego Jackie Lynn is a rock-disco queen with a country songwriting style, but she’s better known for her project Circuit des Yeux, an experimental odyssey she’s sustained for almost two decades. In that time, Fohr has refined her striking vocal delivery—she has a four-octave range and sometimes sounds like avant-garde singer-songwriter Ahnoni—while artfully zigzagging through disparate musical terrain, including noise rock, ambient electronica, and folk music. Circuit des Yeux’s 2021 album, -io, which featured a large complement of classical musicians, grew its lush orchestrations from solid rock ’n’ roll foundations, and Fohr earned praise for her highly theatrical performances in support of the release.
On Circuit des Yeux’s latest full-length, last month’s Halo on the Inside (Matador), Fohr confidently steps into darkwave territory, building songs around her poppiest hooks to date while resisting many of the genre’s cliches. She wrote the record over several months, holing up in her basement for months and working late into the night. The material, inspired by the Greek god Pan, is also indicative of the way the pandemic whetted a cultural appetite for all things goth. In a world drastically reshaped by mass death, people hunger to honor not just beauty and ecstasy but also agony and darkness.
Opening track “Megaloner” sets a perfect tone. It underscores its refrain (“Gotta give it up / Gotta get a second chance / Gotta give it up / Thinking about the big romance”) with synth arrangements and guitar licks that sound like something off a John Carpenter soundtrack. “Truth” showcases Fohr’s genre-bending whimsy: Its combo of the free-spirited jazz pop of Bjork’s Debut and the folkloric, almost ceremonial electronica of Merlina Herlop’s Pripayat hits like a steroid shot, albeit mixed with a lot of existential darkness. Fohr meets the moment as a sonic voyager disinterested in a tidy home. Her ongoing foray into strongly visual live sets coupled with her mind for melding unexpected inspirations makes me suspect this will be one of the most interesting local shows for synth-pop and goth audiences this year.
Circuit des Yeux Facs and Kinsella & Pulse, LLC open. Thu 4/17, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, $22, 17+
