The Impersonators are back with their latest track “Circus”. Since their formation in 2013 they have steadily been putting out a wide catalogue of quality work that includes an array of singles, EPs, and a two-part album titled “Luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel”. We have featured their songs “Sad Café”, “Effigy”, “Broken Snow”, and “Burning Blue” to a very responsive audience. The band is made up of Tommi Tikka, a multi instrumentalist and the other half of Finnish pop/rock band Carmen Gray’s songwriting team, and lyricist Antti Autio. Continuing to build upon their success, The Impersonators have just released their latest single “Circus” along with a brand new music video for the track.
Tommi explained to us how the songs concept came into existence…
“The initial inspiration for this tune came when I met this guy from Sussex, England. I did not know Sussex isn’t exactly thriving these days and he was dirt poor but blissfully happy and jazzed up about life. Then there was me, blessed with everything and still not being content. I felt slightly embarrassed. As often is the case, a song is inspired by something autobiographical and then once you start working on it, it evolves into a composite of reality and fiction. Unlike the protagonist of the song, the British guy I met was not married nor unemployed. However, the lyrics Antti provided for the verses and the middle-eight, needed the character in the song to be both of those things. I edited the bits we wrote together and painted a picture of a disappointed man, on his last legs, waving goodbye to all the mundane, trivial and hurtful issues of everyday life, saying, “You win. You can be as nasty and indifferent towards me as you want, I won’t fight back from now on but I won’t rent space in my head or heart for you anymore either. The promo shots and the video for the release were shot in a real circus tent. It was a lot of fun doing that. Antti floored everyone with his acting abilities and also, I love the single cover, doctored by Sven Klitsch, with the little circus bits in it.
Excited about how the photo turned out, I showed it to my four-year old son. He looked at it slightly worried and said, “Were you scared of standing so close to the tiger?” – “Not one bit,” I answered.”
As they do with all of their releases, Tikka and Autio put thought and care into every detail, putting effort into the promotional materials and videos making this much more than just a track that gets posted online but a multi media piece of art.
“When it came time to shoot the music video for “Circus”, it was suggested that we film the video at an actual circus. I was a bit apprehensive about this at first. The song wasn’t really about being at a circus but rather used the word circus as a metaphor to describe a life that had gone crazy. However, after giving it some thought, I slowly warmed to the idea. By the time we decided to make the whole thing into a short silent movie, I was sold. I’ve always enjoyed doing things differently and I loved making the video black and white, and adding the dialogue lines in between scenes. To me, the music video is meaningful in other ways as well. My dad, who passed away a few months ago, was one of the most positive people I knew. Regardless of what life threw his way (and it threw a lot), he always seemed to be able to turn it into gold, at least in his own mind – lots of times, the Midas touch was not apparent to those around him.”
“Circus” begins with a pleasant and thoughtful guitar harmony with a folky acoustic keeping the tempo. The vocals have a very honest and human quality to them, being poetic while also keeping the messages down to earth. The chorus takes a turn in energy into a fun and upbeat pop track with an emotional melody. The drums give the song a giant sound and pair with the thick instrumentation to create and epic track. The song experiments with different musical vibes and takes turns into different avenues to explore an eclectic handful of energies, varying in emotions from thoughtful and spacious to poppy and fun. The final chorus builds upon itself with beautiful layers of vocal harmonies and a lively classic piano sound leading the charge. Once again Tikka and Autio deliver a top-notch production full of personal stories and their own songwriting expertise. You can listen to “Circus” on our Prime Cuts Playlists and follow The Impersonators on the links below. Please continue to support artists like The Impersonators and share this music with everyone you know.
Categories: Pop, Pop - Rock, Rock, Soul
The Music Butcher 
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