Ceremony's 'Tell Me Your Dream' Proves Reinvention Doesn't Mean Retreat
Ceremony’s lineup has held steady since guitarist Andy Nelson joined in 2011 — Ross Farrar on vocals, Anthony Anzaldo and Nelson on guitars, Jake Casarotti on drums — and Tell Me Your Dream, their first record in seven years, brings in producer John Reis for additional guitar and backing vocals plus Tørsö bassist Jasmine Watson rounding out the sessions. Stereogum’s Tom Breihan named it Album of the Week, and it’s easy to hear why: this is a band that sounds like it’s still finding new rooms inside a house it’s owned for over a decade.
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Casarotti’s drums keep the record’s hardcore instincts intact even when the arrangements wander somewhere else entirely — the rhythm section never lets the genre experiments soften into background music.
The Spatial Dynamics: Reis’s additional guitar work and Watson’s bass give tracks like “Other Hells” room to fold new-wave synths into what’s still, underneath, a feral punk song — the mix keeps the electronic elements as texture rather than letting them take over.
Standout Performance
“Madness” is the record’s clearest flex, a spidery-funky dance-punk cut that layers culturally sharp lyrics over a groove tight enough to make you forget this is a band with hardcore roots — Farrar’s phrasing rides the pocket rather than fighting it, landing on some genuinely poignant observations about youth by the song’s end.
Why It’s Certified
“Dark Summer” and “10 Planets” show the record’s range in miniature — one a longing, bittersweet groove built on rock swagger, the other sparse art-pop that turns philosophical without losing its footing. Breihan called Tell Me Your Dream a band still “in touch with every iteration of themselves,” and that’s the whole appeal here: whether this ends up a late-career high point or another chapter in a much longer story, Ceremony sound like they’re chasing something real rather than repeating themselves. Certified great.