Photo Credit: Roberto Johnson

In 2015, Neal Casal rallied Dan Horne, Adam MacDougall, and Mark Levy to take inspiration from the Grateful Dead and prepare a set of songs rooted in deep grooves and pocked with improvisational dents, true to the original band’s creative spirit. At the request of Justin Kreutzmann, the ensemble produced Interludes For The Dead, a set of songs recorded and debuted during the Fare Thee Well concert setbreaks. After 10 years and achieving beloved status amongst fans, the ensemble, which now features John Lee Shannon, has turned in Interludes for the Dead: Vol. 2. 

Like the first set, Interludes for the Dead: Vol. 2 draws on the untamed essence instituted by Jerry Garcia, Bobby Weir, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann, particularly during their own Pigpen era, demonstrating a willingness to push the sonic boundaries and take listeners outside of their musical comfort zones by playing with tone and textures that allowing feeling to propel extemporization. By entering the instrumental deep end, Circles Around the Sun create their own brand of cosmic grooves that inspire skirt-flying twirls and hair-throwing catharsis. 

Volume 2 was recorded at Horne’s UHF Studios in Los Angeles. The compositions that make up the body of work emerged in real time, with MacDougall, Horne, Levy, and Shannon taking a full-tilt approach that fostered a sense of playfulness without a script. Arriving a decade after the original, today’s release presents over an hour of instrumental tete-a-tete, ranging from the 11+ minute “Golden Boot” to “Charleston Choogle,” which clocks in at over 20 minutes. Also scratching the itch for jam enthusiasts, “Hot Pursuit” hits the 10-minute mark, as well as “Starburn.”

“It felt important to make a 10-year later companion piece, 10 years from the ‘Fare Thee Well’ shows that we were commissioned to do the house music for–that our friend Neal Casal brought us all together for, and keep carrying that torch,” Horne commented via press release. “We spent four days together at my UHF Studio, writing and recording it all on the spot, to capture that spirit of improvisation and spontaneity.”

“‘Charleston Choogle’ was the first notes we played in the session, and it just instantly felt like we were picking up where we left off. While missing Neal, the spirit was there,” he continues. “We continued that challenge with ‘Golden Boot,’ which sounds like a classic CATS jam. Could have been written at any time over the last decade. We tend to come up with a groove that allows the framework for us to explore and improvise around, and then go to outer space with.”

In conclusion, Horne said, “They both felt just like we picked up where we left off 10 years ago, and like it was magically coming from the same batch of inspiration.”

Interludes for the Dead: Vol. 2 is out now.