Ceremony continue to no longer be the band that introduced you to powerviolence in high school, and the latest reminder of this is their Devo-esque second single and title track from their upcoming sixth album, In the Spirit World Now. With the same thudding percussive backing—and DIY visual backdrop, this time courtesy of Muted Windows—they’ve maintained through their steady evolution to new wave heavyweights, “Spirit World” mirrors only Spirit World lead single “Turn Away the Bad Thing” in terms of wailing synths.
“The spirit world came about through the reading of Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift,” lyricist Ross Farrar notes, offering context for the mystical allure of the track’s dizzying chorus. “The novel’s fictitious character, Von Humboldt Fleisher, writes a long letter to the protagonist, Charlie Citrine, which announces, ‘We are not natural beings, but supernatural beings.’ I understood it as a moment of praise and ran away with it.”
In the Spirit World Now is out August 23 on Relapse Records. You can pre-order it here.
