The Perfect Circle (live) - Max ZT & Dan Whitehouse
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
If you’ve ever needed a reminder that stillness can be powerful — that a moment of quiet can echo louder than any roar — then The Perfect Circle by Dan Whitehouse and Max ZT might just be your new favorite piece of sonic serenity.
Released ahead of their upcoming third UK tour in June 2025, this single isn’t just a song. It’s an experience — a live-recorded whisper of wisdom and wonder, born from poetry and nurtured into life at none other than Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. And yes, it sounds exactly as magical as that sentence implies.
“This song is based on a poem by my friend Katie Whitehouse (no relation),” Dan says. “When I first read her poem it was a breath of fresh air – like pulling the curtains wide on a glorious morning and letting the light flood in.”
That’s exactly how this track feels. Like light flooding in. It’s rooted in Katie’s meditative reflection on the passage of time — her gentle “hymn of appreciation” for the full sweep of a day — and the music follows suit with a calm, centered grace.
Dan Whitehouse’s voice is the kind of voice that doesn't just sing to you — it speaks to you, like a trusted friend sitting across from you in a quiet kitchen. There’s no pretension here, only presence. His delivery feels effortless, honest, and deeply grounded.
Enter Max ZT, whose mastery of the hammered dulcimer transcends technical virtuosity — it becomes storytelling. His playing on this track is fluid and expansive, wrapping around Dan’s vocals like sunlight dancing through trees. Together, they craft a sound that lives somewhere between contemporary folk, Indian classical influence, and poetic ambient reflection.
This isn’t just music to listen to — it’s music to breathe with.
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
Filmed and recorded live at the legendary Real World Studios — a place with its own almost-mystical energy — the song finds even more depth. “Very few studios have space to record live comfortably, and at the same time have such great natural acoustics,” says Dan. Real World is more than a studio, it’s a sanctuary for sound. You can hear the room in this track — it breathes with the music, becomes a part of it.
The video is just as serene. It’s intimate and organic, showing the beauty of two artists fully locked into a shared moment. No frills, no flash — just truth.
The Perfect Circle isn’t dramatic — it doesn’t ask for your attention, it earns it through honesty. It’s a song about cycles: of time, of relationships, of departures and arrivals. It’s a celebration of the beauty in ordinary things, and the quiet grace found in our daily revolutions.
It’s the kind of song that feels like sunrise — even if you listen to it at midnight.
It’s for fans of Nick Drake, Sufjan Stevens, or Ravi Shankar-adjacent instrumental depth. For people who think a single dulcimer note can carry more emotion than a symphony, and anyone in need of a breath, a pause, or a poetic nudge toward the sacred in the everyday.
As the duo prepare for their June 2025 UK tour, The Perfect Circle offers the perfect lead-in — a live rendition of a track from their acclaimed Ten Steps LP that doesn’t just revisit earlier work but reimagines it in a new, beautifully intimate light.
If this is your first introduction to Dan Whitehouse & Max ZT, it’s a perfect starting point. And if you’re already a fan, this track feels like a homecoming.
Listen once, and you’ll feel calm.
Listen twice, and you’ll notice something new.
Listen three times, and you might just cry a little — in the best way.
The Perfect Circle isn’t a single. It’s a small moment of truth, wrapped in strings and light.
The Perfect Circle (live) is available now on all major streaming platforms
Upcoming shows - Ten Steps - Ten Gigs - Ten Towns
19.06 Great Hall Dartington
20.06 Waterside Arts, Sale
21.06 Water Yeat Village Hall
22.06 The Cluny, Newcastle United
23.06 The Old Bell Hotel Derby
24.06 Stroud Valley Arts Space: Brunel Goods Shed
25.06 Green Note, London
27.06 St Edith Folk
28.06 The David Hall South Petherton
29.06 Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Tickets: bnds.us/18kkr
