Ceremony, the kings of Rohnert Park, are done being sick on Tell Me Your Dream. Instead, they’re ready to dance and shout.
Release date: August 7, 2026 | Relapse Records | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Website
Ceremony has a special place in my heart, as a band who has been a staple of my listening habits during multiple phases, both in my life and in the band’s sound. From the powerviolence perfection of their first 7 inch, Scared People, and the perfectly titled Violence Violence; through the still raging but more open-minded Still Nothing Moves You; to the moribund and detached Rohnert Park, with its generational anthem, “Sick”, the soundtrack to too many of my half-assed nollie attempts in empty parking lots at 2am; and all the way to the unabashed 80’s worship of In the Spirit World Now – admittedly, the stop where I got off the proverbial Ceremony bus.
I mean, how the hell do I write a review that captures the manic frenzy that gripped me when the first notes of “Sick” started playing on the main stage at Fluff Fest a couple of years ago, leading me to run half a mile in what felt like seconds before eventually bursting into the moshpit? Frankly, I can’t. But it is important for me to mention that, because as much as me listening to Ceremony started feeling heavy on the diminishing returns in recent years, I could never fully give up on a band that made me feel like THAT. And you know what? I’m glad I kept at it. Because that made me give their new record, Tell Me Your Dream, a chance, and now you have the (mis)fortune of reading me wax poetically about how cool it for a full review (TL;DR: very cool).
The first thing that grabbed me was just how confident and at ease the band sounds on this record. From the very first notes of “Prograde”, a charged and tense post-punk song that marries Rikk Agnew-esque weirdo 80’s hardcore punk guitar lines with a structure that would have been at ease on the first couple of Interpol records, Ceremony just plays everything in the pocket, like it’s just another walk in the (Rohnert) park.
And, in many ways, it is. Tell Me Your Dream works like a compilation or a best-of album, except it’s not full of songs from the band’s past catalogue, but rather sounds from it. There’s the aforementioned post-punk, the slinky new wave synth of “Other Hells”, the Talking Heads-meets-Television bounce of “Madness” (with its opening bass line that really reminds of a Weezer song, but somehow they make it work), the almost shoegazy “Dark Summer”… I mean, at one point it starts feeling like they’re out here to just show off that yes, they can play every musical style they want, and nail it. And you know what? They can. Doesn’t mean they should – please, no more Weezer bass lines – but that confidence of a group of musicians hitting full stride is such a joy to listen to.
As the album reaches its midway point, though, the sonic landscape starts snapping into view. We’re firmly in 80’s pop territory, and the different genres the first songs explored start coalescing into a more cohesive whole. It’s a whole that is rich, full of little sprinkles of creative touches that make each song memorable and fun. It’s grim music, with grim tones and a grim outlook (“Madness” calls out the horrors of Palestine’s destruction by name, and “Paradise” is, well, a song about death), but it’s played with such a joie de vivre that it’s hard not to dance to it. Dancing with tears in my eyes, right? I guess that’s what you get when a bunch of California boys play dark, gloomy post-punk. Just listen to “Death Destruction Mayhem”: the perfect song to dance with your friends. Or punch your friends. Or both.
One aspect of this whole shebang that really deserves a spotlight is just how good this record sounds. There’s obviously the performances themselves, sure-handed and excellent, with all five members getting just the right instrumental space in the mix, and each one delivering a strong performance that never outshines the other instruments. But there’s also the production, handled by the legendary John Reis (of Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, and Rocket from the Crypt fame – that’s one hell of a CV). who manages to weave together all of Ceremony’s varied influences into a natural and organic whole, with a sound that never lets any musical turn sound out of place or out of character. That’s quite an accomplishment.
So if you’re looking to finally send off this summer and embrace the upcoming winter gloom, but do so triumphantly, Ceremony have got the perfect bullet for your gun. Tell Me Your Dream is about as much fun as you can have while being bummed, or just about as bummed as you can be while having fun, and it’s packed with lowkey hits that you’ll be humming for the rest of the year. It puts the punk in post-punk, marrying a 70’s CBGBs attitude with a brooding 80’s approach to songwriting in a spectacular way, and I can’t wait to catch these guys play these songs live and dejectedly sing along. I guess I’m fully back on the bus now.
