Ceres return back to the music scene in a big way this week with their new album Magic Mountain.
You’d be forgiven if you didn’t realise that Melbourne indie-rockers Ceres called it quits. Technically they never broke up, they just COMPLETELY dropped off. No announcement, no goodbye tour, just radio silence…for five years.
Label: Cooking Vinyl Australia
Release Date: 4 Oct
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Although what we didn’t realise is that for four years now, the groups singer/songwriter Tom Lanyon has been tackling a deeply personal journey of rediscovery, heartache, and joy, and all the while, writing about it, no matter how ugly or visceral those anecdotes may be.
Within the opening 30 seconds of audible vocals on ‘Rhododendron’, Lanyon unapologetically unpacks what’s to be explored throughout the double-album, introducing an $8,000 tax bill; dead pet, brother’s diagnosis of glaucoma, neighbours cancer and fathers death, before eventually gaining solace in the fact that “soon, I’ll be a father”. As if after years of crawling through the shit, Lanyon can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The rest of the songs unpack those years, exploring growing pains like sobriety (‘Common Everlasting’) and loss (‘Humming’) while constantly maintaining optimism and brevity about the power of change. Through carefully considered orchestral elements (‘666’, ‘1996’), stylistic change-ups spanning everything from alt-country (‘Supermassive’, ‘Apollo’), anthemic punk-rock (‘LCD’, ‘Towers TK’) and thoughtful, deliberate slow-building ballads (‘I Die First’, ‘In The Valley’, ‘Viv’) Magic Mountain resembles a rebirth–both literally and figuratively.
Part memoir, part cry for help, Magic Mountain showcases a triumphant return to grace for Ceres. A mammoth 25-track effort that breathes new life into the possibilities of the group’s sound.
Cere’s mammoth Magic Mountain return is happening on Friday 4 October.
