FACT mix 638: Circuit des Yeux

Haley Fohr aka Circuit des Yeux goes deep and dark with a chilling blend drones and tones.

Back in 2007, Haley Fohr began to assemble her musical experimentations, recording a collection atonal folk vignettes that would form the basis her debut album Symphone. She released it on De Stijl under the Circuit des Yeux moniker a year later.

In 2018, Fohr is still working as Circuit des Yeux and just last October released her fifth full-length, Reaching for Indigo‎ on Drag City. The album came after Fohr took a slight diversion, experimenting with country pop on 2016’s Jackie Lynn; but what was expected to be a one-f diversion took on a life its own.

Soon, Jackie Lynn had become more important than intended, picking up attention Fohr had never expected. So after a spiritual awakening (“I was convulsing and vomiting and crying, it was really intense”) she returned to Circuit des Yeux with an amplified sense self. Reaching for Indigo‎ fused elements the country pop Fohr had toyed with as Jackie Lynn, but managed to make it more personal and ultimately more rewarding for Fohr.

Fohr’s FACT mix explores some her influences and interests, from electronic music pioneers Delia Derbyshire and Tangerine Dream to modern drone practitioners like Sarah Davachi.

Reaching for Indigo‎ is out now on Drag City.

Tracklist:

Delia Derbyshire – ‘Colour’ (excerpt)
Tangerine Dream -‘Birth Liquid Plejades’ (excerpt)
Karla Boreky – ‘Still In Your Pocket’
Sarah Davachi – ‘For Organ’
Olivier Messiaen – ‘Louange a l’Eternite de Jesus’
Sheila Chandra & The Ganges Orchestra – ‘Is’
Nonesuch Explorer Series: Ketjak – ‘The Ramayana Monkey Chant’ (excerpt)
Adrian Rew – ‘Slot Machine Music’ (excerpt)
Chaitanya Hari Deuter – ‘First Stage’ (excerpt)
Sound – ‘Boemtsa’
Emahoy Tsegue-Mariam Gebru – ‘Ballad the Spirits’
Bee Gees – ‘Don’t Wanna Live Inside Myself’

Read next: Circuit des Yeux’s new album Reaching For Indigo is discreetly personal and universally relatable