Ceremony - Distance

Whilst most of us spent December negotiating our way through rolls of tinsel and multicolored fairy lights, priorities were somewhat different for Virginia-based darkwavers, Ceremony.

For them (or he, really, as Ceremony is now very much the solo work of John Fedowitz), festive goodwill came in the form of a much anticipated new album and a link-up with blossoming indie label, Moon Sounds Records.

Boasting the production credits of long-time Fedowitz collaborator Oliver Ackerman (Skywave, A Place to Bury Strangers), Distance treads a familiar path of fractious garage and blurred psychedelia, but retains a core pop ethic throughout.

From the firebrand 60's psych of Can't Say Your Name to the low-fi growl of The Summer The Sun (featuring a vocal turn from Candy), there's much to appeal to the uninitiated, and plenty to satisfy the converted.

There are references galore as the fizzing slacker surf of I Want To Kiss conjures images of classic era Mary Chain, whist the pummeling lovestruck percussion on The Sunglass Girl touches post punk perfection.

Elsewhere, we find arguably Distance's finest moment in penultimate track Run Away - as pedal heavy shoegaze steps to the fore in a raucous bout of uptempo space rock - whilst album closer, Throw Your Love Away threatens to upstage its predecessor in a hail of smash-and-grab feedback.

Distance is available on CD through Moon Sounds' Bandcamp page. You can learn more about Ceremony through their presence on Facebook and Soundcloud