Largely driven by Andrew McFarland, best known for his work in Reptar, Co Co Ri Co and Giant Giants, Semicircle formed five years ago in Athens, GA as an experiment. Their first shows were completely improvised, come-all-who-may, open format interpretation of a series of McFarland’s songs, intended as an informal study into music’s ability to connect people’s consciousness. Six months into this experiment, some of the recurring members of the band prodded McFarland into having a more solidified, core group of musicians. 

The band’s first release, a tape-only EP was a different experiment. Written and recorded at McFarland’s childhood house in Decatur, GA, the album’s material explored ideas of home with a very specific limitation – they only used one microphone and a four track tape machine. 

After McFarland relocated from Athens to Atlanta, Semicircle’s songwriting process became much more collaborative as McFarland’s bandmate in Reptar and Giant Giants, Ryan Engelberger joined the group. And interestingly, as the duo of McFarland and Engelberger have toured the Southeast, some critics and bloggers have compared them to the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Wilco, Grizzly Bear, Spoon and others. Certainly “Mechanism of Erasure,” the first single off the band’s debut effort, Blown Breeze, Grown Glass and We Are Part of the Earth will cement those comparisons as it possesses elements of psych rock, Southern rock with a measure of thoughtful, singer/songwriter folk rock to boot.