Since their debut, indie rock upstarts Square Circle seemed poised to go the distance. Dubbed “the Band Without a Sound” for their chameleonic style, they became the toast of Williamsburg overnight. Beyond their instant-classic songwriting and ADD approach to genre, the foursome have brilliantly posed themselves as characters: sneering brat Spencer Savard shares frontman duties with Nick Crandall, the band’s shaggy man of mystery; bassist Jacob Overman moonlights as the band’s eccentric brand ambassador; and the low-key Bill Bright has asserted himself as one of the best drummers in indie rock history. In April, the band announced their bid for world domination was coming this summer, in the form of a new album with the ambiguous title "lll" (are those capital i's or lowercase l's?). The wait is over: an unmastered version of the new record has leaked.

So does the band live up to their almost impossible hype? The answer, in a word, is no. The answer, in two words, is fuck no, and the answer in 20 words is, Who the hell at Palindrome Records let this overprivileged posse of poseurs make such a spectacular failure of a record? Square Circle have reinvented themselves yet again, rendering their songwriting, musicianship, and even their vocals unrecognizable, only to prove that it amounts to nothing. Only their indelible lyrics remain, but it’s too late: their act is what we always feared, a great big gimmick, empty as a hot tub on a sweltering summer day.

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The final master of "lll" will be released by Palindrome Records on August 1, 2007.

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