Listen to “Presaging the End” from Ceremony’s Forthcoming New Album

Ceremony are releasing their fifth album, In The Spirit World Now, in just a few short weeks, their first LP since 2015’s The L-Shaped Man. We’ve already heard the album’s title track and lead single “Turn Away The Bad Thing,” and today (Aug. 6) we’re hearing a subdued new taste of the album.

“Presaging the End” stews with existential dread refracted through the band’s prismatic surf-punk stylings. A brooding bass line sets the stage for wailing guitars to dance in the negative spaces, while frontman Ross Farrar’s monotone vocals beckon the listener with characteristic ease.

Farrar sings of the difficulties of moving forward, inflecting lines like “You’ll always be more alive yesterday” with a melancholic timbre that still finds room for optimism. In a statement, he elaborates on the track:

Change is a hard topic to unravel. In one version, people don’t like it much because it tampers with original design. But on the other hand, change is something that is a necessity and also absolutely inevitable, so it’s one of those things we have to embrace by default.

In The Spirit World Now is out on Aug. 23 via Relapse Records. Listen to “Presaging the End” below, then keep scrolling to find the band’s upcoming tour dates. Be sure to check out the title track here and “Turn Away The Bad Thing” here.

Ceremony Tour Dates:

August
23 – San Francisco, Calif. @ August Hall !#
24 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Regent !

September
03 – Chicago, Ill. @ Thalia Hall #^
04 – Cleveland, Ohio @ Now That’s Class #
05 – Boston, Mass. @ Sinclair #
06 – Providence, R.I. @ The Met #^
07 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Elsewhere #
08 – Hamden, Conn. @ Space Ballroom #^
09 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Union Transfer #^
10 – Washington, D.C. @ U Street Music Hall #^
11 – Asheville, N.C. @ The Mothlight #^
12 – Durham, N.C. @ The Pinhook #^
13 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Vinyl #^
14 – Orlando, Fla. @ The Social ^
15 – Miami, Fla. @ Gramps ^
19 – Houston, Texas @ White Oak Music Hall ^
20 – Dallas, Texas @ Club Dada ^
21 – McAllen, Texas @ Cine El Rey ^
22 – Austin, Texas @ Barracuda ^
24 – Albuquerque, N.M. @ Launchpad ^
25 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ 51 West ^

(! w/ Pissed Jeans, Marissa Nadler [Record Release Show])
(# w/ Choir Boy)
(^ w/ Glitterer)