Public Circuit’s Modern Church Is Built on Sweat and Synths

Public Circuit treats the dance floor like a place of worship. Think of a church rebuilt from sweat and distortion: strobe lights as stained glass, the crowd as congregation. The New York City synth-punk trio have carved out a reputation for live shows that feel less like concerts and more like subversive ceremonies. They’re rituals of noise and motion where faith isn’t abstract, faith is the sweat on your skin. Their second album, Modern Church (out September 12 via À La Carte Records), invites you to dance and believe not in gods, not in institutions, but in the holy collision of synths, sweat, and freedom.

A Theology of Noise

Public Circuit aren’t here to indulge in ‘80s nostalgia. When it comes to their sound, Public Circuit plays with themes of religious and mythic imagery. Ethan Biamont, the frontperson, has described themself as being both fascinated and apprehensive with the notion of faith, taking aim at the frivolity that lies in its nature. When speaking about the upcoming release they state; “I think it’s human to put your faith in things. I’m not saying that there is nothing to have faith in, or nothing to believe in, but rather sometimes one’s faith may supersede their best interests or true self.” This is exactly what Modern Church posits: what do we worship now? In a city as secular as New York, the answers are fractured. In the wake of the post digit al age our consciousness has turned to technology, identity, attention, and the body. And this is the convergence where Public Circuit’s music lives. Notion praised their “signature post-punk bite.” Forbes called their earlier single “To The Grave” “80s as heck and a certifiable bop.” But what makes Public Circuit stand out isn’t nostalgia. It’s the way they wield synths as sermons with a punk urgency as staggering as it is ecstatic.

Modern Church: The Record

We’ve had the chance to preview Modern Church ahead of its release, and the rollout so far has mapped out three promotional singles: “Samson,” “To The Grave,” and, most recently, “No Faith.” All which speak to the sonic themes and motifs imbued in the veins of the record: myth, mortality, and the notion of belief.

“No Faith” is the most feral of the three tracks. It starts with propulsive drumming that drives the track forward, its sound both jagged and iridescent. It’s the first song written and paradoxically the last one finished for the album. Yet it shaped the way that the band wanted to sonically embody the record, now with a “sharp and biting character that we wanted to lean into” Biamont describes. There’s a primal intensity behind the vocals that makes the track come alive. Lyrically, “No Faith” is direct in its refusal of rigidity. It’s a song about rejecting the outlines of masculinity, and instead leaning into queerness as a kind of liberation.

Synth as Sermon

“Samson” rewires Biblical myth as a parable while “To The Grave” leans into neon melodrama. Together, these songs show Public Circuit’s refusal to separate sacred from profane. Every synth line is both scripture and sin, every chorus a confession shouted into the dark. The sound is never ornamental. It’s visceral: buzzing, distorted, meant to move bodies. If guitar punk was once the soundtrack of rebellion, Public Circuit’s synth-punk is the soundtrack of what it means to be messy, sweaty, and uncontainable.

Ceremony in a Secular Age

The larger questions humming under Modern Church are ones many of us are already living with: what happens when old institutions collapse, but the need for belief doesn’t? Where do we place our faith? Is it in phones and algorithms or desire and each other? Public Circuit don’t offer answers, but they hold up a mirror to the chaos, turning it into something you can sweat through on the dance floor.

What Comes Next

This fall, the band take Modern Church on tour across the U.S. and Europe, with stops at Berlin’s 8mm Festival and Rotterdam’s Left of the Dial, before returning home for an album release show at TV Eye in Queens on November 5.