Steve said of the track: "Circo Inferno is the most frenzied point in this album's narrative... A plea for rescue within the maelstrom of a Dantesque circus, involving swirling Phrygian runs, insistent sax, full on vocals and blistering guitar..."

 

'The Circus And The Nightwhale' is Steve's first new music in over two years. Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK - with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the line-up for 'The Circus And The Nightwhale' includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D'Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve's brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.