Published by Mason Oldridge, 27 January 2025
Circa Waves maintain their traditional indie sound on their sixth studio album, teased to be the first in a two-part series.
The record opens on the singles, which are standard indie tracks. The following songs are more chilled, with Blue Damselfly being particularly dreamy, while Everything Changed is the heaviest on the album and the strongest too thanks to its additional boost of energy.
Unfortunately, Circa Waves fall victim to the straightforward rock sound that lacks creativity and originality as the majority of tracks succumb to inevitably becoming background noise. Potential was demonstrated through the experimental sound on 2020 single Sad Happy which makes this basicness all the more disappointing.
Overall, Death & Love, at its worst, sounds like teenagers doing band practice in their dad’s garage but, at its best, sounds like decent indie rock tunes with more depth and emotion, levelling out to be somewhat of a mixed bag, albeit leaning more into the negative side.
5/10