The Old Ceremony – Earthbound
With all the cleverness & musical aplomb of typically inventive 60s & 70s bands, The Old Ceremony gets off to a tight, infectious melodic performance with the title track “Earthbound.” The vocals are friendly-sounding & the tune is well sung with the fervor of Bryan Ferry’s Roxy Music (“Virginia Plain”) & the melody-rich injections of The Korgis with Andy Davis (“Everybody Got To Learn Sometime” “If I Had You”).
There are lots of light-hearted picturesque lyrics applied to these Beatle-spatial tunes. Even the second outing “Too Big To Fail” has spirit, is lavish & imaginative. Other bands in the past approached this style with lots of care & technique – Guadalcanal Diary (“Always Saturday”), Sailor (“Glass of Champagne”), the Woodentops (Well, Well, Well”), Ghost of an American Airman (“Coathanger Love”) & the noirish Vivabeat (“Man From China”). So, The Old Ceremony isn’t alone – but they have their uniqueness well in hand.
There are 11 banquets of sound on their 7th album Earthbound (Drops Oct 17/Robust Records/40:37) produced by the band with Thom Canova in Durham, North Carolina. Sometimes a listener doesn’t want to be bogged down with something heavy-handed, sophisticated, intense, angry, grungy, or bluesy. This would be the recipe. The band isn’t retro, or greenhorns, there’s nothing silly or novelty-oriented. They’ve been together since 2004 & while some have tagged them noirish, I don’t find them noirish. That word is applied cinematically to tales that are “dark,” “shadowy” & mysterious. A band like the Scottish Blue Nile is noir.
This band has many bright gradients in their repertoire. They’re a creatively diverse bunch & many tunes are more meditative than melancholy. The music is always furnished with good arrangements & catchy moments. Django Haskins (vocals/guitars/banjo/lap steel/tenor sax) who wrote the original tunes is a resourceful writer & tweaks his tunes with transformative pop strikes. “Low Tide In the Desert” is closer to the noir tag as it has a Blue Nile feel & the added sax is a nice touch. They’re an interesting band to keep an eye & ear on & a revisit to their previous work would be rewarding.
Highlights – “Earthbound,” “Too Big To Fail,” “North American Grain,” “Picking My Battles,” “Easy To Believe,” “Salt Salt Sea,” “Low Tide In the Desert” & “Here Comes Another Cloud.”
Musicians – Gabriel Pelli (violin/electric guitar/bgv/percussion), Mark Simonsen (vibraphone/keys/bgv/percussion), Shane Hartman (bass/percussion) & Nate Stalfa (drums/bgv/percussion).
B&W image courtesy of Michael Benson. CD @ https://www.theoldceremony.com/#home-section
