Hold onto yer Underoos, kiddies, ‘cause the

circus is comin’ to town! Um, that would be

ElectroCult Circus, a freewheeling band of

neo-hippies who love to express themselves at

local bars, taverns, and clubs. Think I’m

exaggerating? Consider this from the home page of

their web site (www.electrocultcircus.com): “The

tides of time have shaped us and we are learning

to grow with their ripples. We chain up our

animals as we have chained up our souls, merely

because their lack of fear at expressing their

true feelings scares us and makes us want to

contain the nature that is in them and also all

of us.” Like, deep, man.

In addition to considering the cosmos, they are

also dandy musicians! The 10 songs on All

Heed the Cattle Call, recorded at Tempel

Recording Studios earlier this year, are spirited

and breezy, a kind of small-scale Polyphonic

Spree with sprinkles, a jam band that keeps their

songs under five minutes. In short, they sound

quite different from most anything currently on

the Fort Wayne local music scene.

“Not in Front of Mother” is a prime example of

their dementia, sporting a menacing chord

progression full of biting guitars as two female

vocalists sing “Gonna run around, run around

town” before the song breaks into a near chaotic

fury. A brighter, more pop sound is evident in

“Conundrum,” but added into this are spurious

guitar solos, male vocals, Joplinesque female

vocals and ethereal female vocals that glide in

now and then to ice the cake. The resigned “On

the Edge” combines jangly guitars, manic congo

playing and lyrics such as “God’s as bored as me

/ Hey, at least suffering’s still free.” The

Circus shows their improvisational skills in

“Glue” and “Where’s My Tip?,” a five-minute jam

centered around a plunky piano line and held

together by running dialogue of a waiter taking

an order.

Despite the heady lyrics, the music throughout

is invigoratingly fresh, spontaneous with the

glee of exploration as the five members recapture the

spirit of a modern Age of Aquarius. Should you

wish to immerse yourself in the psychedelic big

top of All Heed The Cattle Call, your

local Wooden Nickel store can provide the

soundtrack, but you will have to provide your own

munchies.