10 Years Later: Circles Around The Sun Returns With ‘Interludes For The Dead: Volume 2’

In 2015, guitarist Neal Casal was selected to compose set break music for the Fare Thee Well – Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead concerts. Casal recruited keyboardist Adam MacDougall, bassist Dan Horne and drummer Mark Levy to write and record over five hours of instrumental jams under the moniker Circles Around The Sun and the reaction was so positive the band went on to release highlights later that year as the album Interludes For The Dead.

This weekend, history will repeat itself when music from Circles Around The Sun’s just-announced new album, Interludes For The Dead: Volume 2, debuts during setbreaks of Dead & Company's Golden Gate Park concerts in San Francisco celebrating the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary. CATS, who moved forward with the band after the tragic death of Casal in 2019 to honor Neal’s wishes, will release the seven-song collection on November 7.

Dan Horne, Adam MacDougall, Mark Levy and CATS guitarist John Lee Shannon recorded the set over four days at Horne’s UHF Studios in Los Angeles with nothing written or rehearsed in advance. Interludes For The Dead: Volume 2 was created out of the same “spirit of improvisation and spontaneity” that birthed both the band and the Fare Thee Well music.

Out today from Circles Around The Sun is “Golden Boot”/”Charleston Choogle,” the double lead single from the forthcoming album. CATS bassist Dan Horne, who also produced the record, shared the following about Interludes For The Dead: Volume 2:

“It felt important to make a 10 years later companion piece, and share it for the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary, 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.

“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.

“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.

“We decided to release those two songs because 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.”

Stream Circles Around The Sun’s “Golden Boot” and “Charleston Choogle” below:

Interludes For The Dead: Volume 2 Tracklist

1. Golden Boot
2. Hot Pursuit
3. Starburn
4. Redeyes
5. Charleston Choogle
6. Radiant Radish
7. Vol de Nuit