They haven't all graduated HS yet, but local band Circus Trees makes sound waves overseas

MARLBOROUGH – When three teenage Marlborough sisters formed a band in 2018, none of them had yet graduated from high school.

In less than three years, their post-rock band Circus Trees has been nominated twice at the Boston Music Awards, released a debut album, and has an international fanbase. Next, the band is aiming to land a national record label to help take their sound even further.

The McCarthy sisters are Circus Trees,  a post-rock band

Today, the band's lead singer/guitarist and bassist have yet to graduate from high school. 

The McCarthy sisters - Giuls, 19, Fin, 16 and Edmee, 15 - comprise Circus Trees, a post-rock band signed under Five By Two records – which is run out of their family’s home on O’Malley Road.

Last year, the trio was nominated for Rock Artist of the Year, sharing the category with one of their idols – Caspian, a post-rock band based in Beverly. The year before, Circus Trees was nominated for Best Metal Artist.

In August, they released “Delusions” – their first full-length album, which followed their first EP – "Sakura," which was released in 2019. 

Writing their first EP at such a young age, Fin, the lead singer and guitarist, said most of their lyrics were centered around potential situations they feared or feelings they hadn’t yet experienced.

“It was great (music) but we all felt like we needed to mature a little from that. Those were songs we had been playing forever," she said, seated next to her sisters on her family's living room couch on a recent Saturday afternoon. Beside them was a long whiteboard with lists of ideas for music videos and concepts for the three other bands signed to their family's record label.

The sisters started making music less than five years ago when their older brother Eoghan came home with a guitar. Intrigued, the girls set out to find their own instruments to play, joking that no one in the house could play the same one. Fin settled on doing the vocals and lead guitar, Giuls on drums and Edmee on the bass, after previously playing the keyboards for some time. 

Writing "Delusions," in comparison to "Sakura," was an emotional release the sisters felt they had matured enough to describe, with lyrics tackling topics like insincere conversations, deceit, anger and loss. The six-track album, available on streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, opens with a haunting recording of a psychic describing a woman's husband, sliced from an old cassette one of their brothers' had, and later transitions to the dark, doomsy single “Wasted Air."

The album was recorded at Getaway Studios in Haverhill, and the band is currently in the early stages of writing their sophomore album.

The trio of sisters have also since attracted fans from other countries like Italy and Mexico, but most notably Germany.

In December, Circus Trees released their album on vinyl after an overwhelming number of requests for it by fans. Today, about 50% of their vinyl orders come from Germany, the girls' father, Robert McCarthy, said. 

The family launched Five By Two record label for the girls

When his teen daughters – his youngest was 12 at the time – wanted to release their own music, Robert McCarthy launched a record label in their basement to do it.

The band even landed a German distributor who reached out to them about selling their vinyl records, as it costs more to ship them internationally, said Fin McCarthy. 

“There’s a crazy amount of orders going to Germany,” said Fin, though the sisters admit they don't know why. They've even been invited to perform at venues in Germany.

“They keep saying, if you come and tour over here (in Germany), we can guarantee a packed house for three or four nights in a row,” said Robert McCarthy. 

And when the band eventually does tour Germany, their family will likely be headed with them, as all three bandmates are under 20 years old, and two are still in high school. 

Fin is currently a junior at Marlborough High School, while Edmee is a freshman at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School studying health technology. Giuls also attended Assabet and graduated from the culinary arts program in 2019. She currently works at X Golf in Wayland. 

While many bands haven’t been able to practice together in person during the pandemic, it hasn't been a problem for Circus Trees since they live under the same roof.

But with COVID-19 came the cancellation of their 2020 shows, including a planned performance last April at the Sinclair in Cambridge, opening for Caspian, that would have been their biggest performance yet.  

“We were so close,” said Giuls.

What is post-rock?

Despite last year's schedule falling apart, the sisters continued to make new music. In August, they released "Delusions," and have since performed several livestream shows, released a music video for their single "Confronting Time" and a cover of "Go Home" by Julien Baker – an indie folk singer-songwriter credited as one of the band's top musical influences. 

“We love her so much, she’s great,” said Fin McCarthy, noting other influences like Beverly-based post-rock band Caspian and Atlanta rock band O’ Brother, whom they played with at Post.Festival in Indianapolis about two years ago. The music festival hosts artists falling under the post-rock genre, characterized as a form of experimental rock that's mostly instrumental.

“I still get emails from people saying Circus Trees was the highlight of the day (at the festival),” said Robert McCarthy. 

As for dream acts the band would love to play alongside, they immediately answered with Julien Baker, next to indie rock band Foxing.

Finding a new label 

There's one goal Robert McCarthy has when it comes to his daughters' band - getting them off his record label.

There are currently three other local bands signed under Five By Two records, including The Light Inside Me Is Dead (featuring his son Eoghan, 20); Pillbook PLBK (aka Aaron Garcia, 21); and the all-female, Worcestersurf punk band Evil Felipe. 

Because the record label is based out of the McCarthys' home, that means everyone living in it also does more than play an instrument. Eoghan McCarthy is considered the label's recording and mixing engineer, live sound director and he also manages the equipment and gear. Garcia, who Robert McCarthy considers a son, servers as the label's creative force and also is a recording, mixing and mastering engineer. 

The sisters also play multiple parts. Giuls, the band's drummer, works as the label's lighting director, drum technician and acoustic sessions promoter. Fin, the band's lead singer and guitarist, is the label's video editor; content creator, and directs marketing and merchandising. Edmee, the band's bassist, does essentially everything in between , including serving as the label's stage manager and website designer.

While the label is literally considered home for Circus Trees, signing them to a national label would help them break into the music industry, their father said.

Matador Records - the same label Julien Baker is signed under, along with other artists like Spoon, Interpol and Perfume Genius - would be their top pick, the McCarthy sisters say, next to Sergeant House, which has signed artists like Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle. 

The band recently signed with a booking agency, the same agent representing the post-rock band Thrice, who reached out to Robert McCarthy with interest in picking the band up after they impressed the band's drummer with their music.

'Sludgy bummer jams'

Every day, Thrice's drummer Riley Breckenridge hikes 5 miles and posts about an album he listened to along his journey on Instagram for his 19,000 followers. One day in late August, he posted about Circus Trees’ newest album:

“Sludgy bummer jams in the vein of O’Brother and La Dispute with vocals that sounds like a fusion of Emma Ruth Rundle and Julien Baker," wrote Breckenridge in his post. "Really great stuff, and even more impressive given the band’s age.”

He later added Circus Trees' album to his list of top 20 albums of 2020, said the McCarthy sisters. 

“I feel so small compared to their level,” said Guils, who excitedly rushed upstairs to the family living room after seeing Breckenridge's Instagram post and the blue verified checkmark next to his name to confirm it was the real deal.

Post New England Fest

While a 2021 tour has yet to be set as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, the sisters plan to continue recording and performing from their basement. In two months, their record label will host Post New England – a post-rock music festival that's going virtual this year, and will feature a half a dozen bands from New England on the livestream event. 

While in-person performances may be on hold, the show will still go on for Circus Trees. 

Lauren Young writes about politics, social issues and covers the towns of Bellingham, Franklin and Medway. Reach her at 774-804-1499 or lyoung@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurenwhy__.