Circus Animals

Many of the album's songs were written as a direct reaction to the pop success of the band's previous LP East and feature unusual, experimental arrangements. Singer Barnes said, "the whole band, particularly Don, decided to revolt against the pop formula when we made Circus Animals." Walker said, "There was no way of improving what we'd done on East, so we had to think of new things to try." Barnes had noted, "It's not way out, not ridiculously experimental. It's all been done before, just not by us."