Yoyo Sham

The son of a ruined millionaire and a horsewoman becomes a clown and restores their fortune.

A man has everything: dozens of servants, a palace, vast woods, gardens, a lake, mechanical toys, private entertainment troupes of musicians and dancers. He has it all - but love. When alone, he sits at a desk, sighing, and looking at a photograph of a pretty girl. One day, the circus descended onto his palace, and amidst all the fun it brought, he recognized the Amazon on the white horse - the girl in the photograph. The girl is now the mother of a small boy, Yo-Yo, whom she considers that looks like the millionaire, even under a clown's make-up. The boy will spend some time in the palace, in awe of so much riches, but he will leave (in a dream-like scene) on the tusks of the elephant. Time passes - and one day Yo-Yo will be the owner of his father's palace in decay. Starting from scratch, he will rebuilt it, and be praised as a great clown, an artist, a film-maker, a millionaire. Yet, something is amiss…

Over its first three albums (if you include the "remix" disc Disguised Masters), Arcturus established a pattern of radically changing its sound each time, a trend that continues with The Sham Mirrors, the band's third "official" studio album. The constant thread throughout all the group's work, and again here, comes from keyboardist/songwriter Steiner "Sverd" Johnsen, whose sinister, often carnival-esque harmonies and dramatic synth arrangements have a pretty clear stamp by now.