A Perfect Circle returns with their first new music in 8 years, and while it's only a single song, it's like hearing an old comrade pick up the good fight again.
Maynard James Keenan has never shied away from grand statements as the front man for TOOL, and especially as the leader of Puscifer and the voice of A Perfect Circle. TOOL is often inward looking with its music and philosophy, focusing on the sacred geometry of the body and soul. Puscifer started as a comedy routine basically, but has grown into an outward looking satirical and mind bending trip into what ails society at large. A Perfect Circle started out as a descent into occult imagery and psychological themes. About the time of eMOTVEe though, A Perfect Circle became starkly political in much of their music. While maintaining much of the occult imagery and intricate orchestration, covers of songs like "What's Going On," "Peace Love and Understanding," and "Imagine" bespoke of a certain concern for the politics of the time. Eat The Elephant (2018) continued the socio-political commentary with its lyrics. "Starless," their first new song in 8 years further continues this trend, but a little less directly than many of the songs on Eat The Elephant did.
While "Starless" isn't the compositional music masterpiece that every song on Eat The Elephant is, it is superior lyrically than most of the tracks therein. "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish" is a timeless track from that album that sums up, with a healthy dose of both sarcasm and seriousness, the unfortunate direction we seem to taking globally as a human race. It is the best A Perfect Circle composition both lyrically and musically in their political song catalog. "Starless" in contrast, relies upon metaphor and rhetorical questioning to create its sense of dread and concern about the state of affairs right now in 2026. It is a message that won't draw the ire of the loud but shrinking numbers of ignorance filled political actors and their base, but to the attentive ear serves as just as strong a rallying cry to at least wake up and pay attention to what is going on as much as "So Long..." is.
Musically, "Starless" isn't as interesting or groundbreaking for the band in the sense that "So Long..." is. "Starless" does do something powerful though musically: it harkens back to the earliest sound of A Perfect Circle. "Starless" would fit excellently on Mer De Noms (2000). "Starless" is a heavier guitar driven song. Upon hearing the song, one gets a feeling, not of nostalgia, but of a sort of homesickness for a time that was much simpler, and more inspiring than the one we are currently suffering though. With A Perfect Circle embarking on a world wide tour, which doesn't include North America, it's entirely possible that "Starless" was released to remind the world that the band is still in existence since Keenan has been spending most of his time with Puscifer recently. Whether it's a harbinger of a new album is anyone's guess.
While Keenan is the face of A Perfect Circle, the driving musical force and co-creative energy is undoubtedly guitarist Billy Howerdel. Howerdel is one of the most underrated rock musicians of the past couple of decades. His project Ashes Divide (2008) was a great, but only released one album. His solo debut What Normal Was expanded his sound elegantly into goth rock realms, but his best music has come from his collaboration with Keenan. Sadly, it seems we will only get peak Howerdel when A Perfect Circle decides to release material. There's no better reason to hope "Starless" is an advanced taste of a new A Perfect Circle LP, other than whatever Keenan and Howerdel might dream up by way of further smart and passionate commentary on where we've been and where we are going as a species.
