Pitchfork
January 15, 2010
Link
7
Before Stephin Merritt decided orchestral folk-pop songs for Eric Cartman's next tea party constituted Realism, he cranked up his copy of Darklands and titled the Magnetic Fields' 2008 album Distortion. For these former members of Virginia-based Skywave, a band that also spawned A Place to Bury Strangers, that album title could've summed up an entire career. Instead, Paul Baker and John Fedowitz chose to call their post-Skywave duo Ceremony, a moniker that hearkens back to a certain New Order song title (also, probably less relevantly, a short-lived band fronted by Chastity Bono). Aside from vocals recalling Merritt's tired monotone, "Someday" doesn't sound like anything you might not be able to imagine from those reference points-- thunderously romantic Factory Records guitar/bass interplay, lo-fi drum machines-- but as far as what it sets out to do, it succeeds. And did I mention that it's really fucking loud?
