Circuit Des Yeux

The primary project of Chicago-based singer/songwriter and musician Haley Fohr, Circuit des Yeux crafts haunting, emotionally complex music that relates to the human condition. Centered around Fohr's arresting, four-octave voice and inventive 12-string guitar playing, her music evolved from noisy, lo-fi beginnings to exquisitely arranged albums such as 2015's In Plain Speech and 2017's Reaching for Indigo, which received much critical acclaim. Fohr has also diverted from the more introspective work of her main alias with the fantasy-themed alter ego Jackie Lynn, which blends country, disco, and synth pop influences. Circuit des Yeux returned in 2021 with -io, which featured grand orchestral arrangements played by over a dozen musicians from Chicago's jazz, classical, and experimental music scenes. The maximalist, electronic-heavy Halo on the Inside appeared in 2025.Indiana native Haley Fohr began her experimental indie folk project Circuit des Yeux in 2007, writing and self-recording disturbing, nightmare-like atonal pieces caked in distortion and tape hiss. Her debut LP, Symphone, was released in a limited edition by De Stijl in 2008, followed in 2009 by the more widely available Sirenum on the same label, as well as a 7" single on Dull Knife Records. 2010 saw the release of Ode to Fidelity, a three-song 7" EP on De Stijl that signaled Fohr's shift to more song-based material, letting her deep, haunting vocals and unsettling lyrics rise to the forefront. Third album Portrait arrived on De Stijl in 2011, sporting a much clearer recording quality, as well as a dirge-like deconstruction of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" recorded live. Fohr graduated college in 2012, and moved from Bloomington, Indiana to Chicago, where she began collaborating and performing with several artists in the city's vast music communities. The first fruits of her collaborations came in early 2013 with the release of CDY3, a 10" EP on Magnetic South showcasing a trio lineup of Circuit des Yeux, with bassist Greg Simpson and drummer Clarke Joyner accompanying Fohr's vocals and guitar playing. Fohr recorded the fourth Circuit des Yeux album, Overdue, with Cooper Crain of Cave and Bitchin Bajas, and self-released the album along with help from Brooklyn-based Ba Da Bing Records. The record continued Fohr's growth as an artist and songwriter, featuring confessional folk songs as well as caterwauling experimental noise pieces. Circuit des Yeux toured extensively in 2014, playing over 100 shows with numerous folk and experimental musicians, including Loren Connors, Sir Richard Bishop, and Bill Callahan. Toward the end of the year, Fohr contributed vocals to The Voice Rolling, an album by Mind Over Mirrors, the synthesizer/harmonium-based experimental ambient project of ex-Peeesseye musician Jaime Fennelly. The set was released by Immune Recordings in early 2015, and the duo toured together. Soon after, Circuit des Yeux signed with well-regarded Chicago-based indie/experimental label Thrill Jockey, which released the project's lushly orchestrated fifth album, In Plain Speech, in May 2015. The label also issued the eponymous debut album by Fohr's alter ego Jackie Lynn in 2016. She moved to Drag City for the sixth Circuit des Yeux LP, Reaching for Indigo, which appeared in 2017. Meg Remy of U.S. Girls edited the video for "Paper Bag," the album's first single. The live recording Reaching for Indigo: Gaia Infinitus appeared in 2019. Fohr revisited her Jackie Lynn alias with 2020's Jacqueline. Circuit des Yeux surfaced on Matador with 2021's -io, an elaborate work arranged and produced by Fohr herself. Non-album singles "The Manatee (A Story of This World, Pt III)" and "Double Dare" appeared in 2022, as well as the EPs Live from Chicago and Sunset Poem (Claire Rousay Remixes). Another standalone track, "God Dick," surfaced in 2024. Halo on the Inside, partially produced by Andrew Broder in Minneapolis, was released in 2025, evoking horror soundtracks and industrial dance music.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo