Back in January, Liverpool-based band Circa Waves released their sixth full-length album, Death & Love Pt. 1. In a PopMatters review, I extolled the modern Britpop virtues of the record and noted that it ended on a bit of a melancholy note with “Bad Guys Always Win”.
“Time will tell if a Death & Love Pt. 2 sustains the quality that Circa Waves have consistently delivered and if the good guys might win after all,” I wrote. Now I’m here to report that, if following up an LP filled with a variety of great pop tunes with a second album of equally great pop tunes, then the good guys have indeed won. The second part of Death & Love is clearly not comprised of scraps that didn’t make the cut for Pt. 1.
Technically, though, the new album is not Death & Love Pt. 2. It is a reconfiguration of the original with nine tunes appended to the original nine, to create a now-complete Death & Love. Circa Waves are made up of lead vocalist and guitarist Kieran Shudall; guitarist Joe Falconer; bassist Sam Rourke; and drummer Colin Jones.
Similar to Death & Love Pt. 1, Pt. 2 is front-loaded with its catchiest tunes. “Lost in the Fire” is one of Circa Waves’ hardest rockers, immediately followed by the infectious “Stick Around”. Opening with a bubbly keyboard, “Cherry Bomb” is less frantic than the preceding tunes, but it’s got a stick-in-your-head chorus just the same. It seems like a sweet love song until you catch the slightly ominous line, “She’s my cherry, ready to kill anyone / She’s my cherry bomb.”
Circa Waves head for the dance floor with the following few songs. “Ten Outta Ten” is an atmospheric mid-tempo ballad that manages to erupt into a disco breakdown before it’s over. “Love Me for the Weekend” is a breezy pop bop that’ll have your head bobbing, whether you want it to or not.
The remainder of the new crop of Death & Love songs wander into a slightly less poppy area, though it’s not like anybody is going to mistake Circa Waves for Nick Cave. Still, “Sunbeams”, “Old Balloons”, and “Sweet Simple Thing” all have a quieter and/or moodier vibe than the rest of the new songs on Death & Love.
Whereas the original incarnation of Death & Love ended with “Bad Guys Always Win”, its closing track is now an ethereal farewell song, “Wave Goodbye”. Thus, if the album is telling a story, it still concludes on a melancholy note. Still, it’s a lovely way to bring the full Death & Love to a close. When Circa Waves released the initial Death & Love Pt. 1 in January, it was an early contender for one of the best pop albums you’re likely to hear in 2025. Now that it has doubled in size, it is, happily, still one of the best pop albums you’re likely to listen to this year.