{"id":9868,"date":"2015-05-26T15:39:36","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T15:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-ceremony-the-l-shaped-man\/"},"modified":"2015-05-26T15:39:36","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T15:39:36","slug":"album-review-ceremony-the-l-shaped-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-ceremony-the-l-shaped-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review:\u00a0Ceremony &#8211;\u00a0The L-Shaped Man"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/82126174afd753b49653e55500a07442\/tumblr_nowhwoGGc01r8no6so8_1280.jpg\" width=\"250px\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Rooted in the festering anguish of a breakup, <strong>Ceremony<\/strong> break tradition to expose heartbreak at its bleakest.<\/figure>\n<p>Minimalist yet heartfelt, the Californian punk quintet\u2019s fifth studio outing distances itself from their entire back catalogue, introducing a stark, authentic despair driven by vocalist Ross Farrar\u2019s recent romantic turmoil. At first easily misunderstood, <em>\u2018The L-Shaped Man\u2019<\/em> presents a lucid lyrical interpretation of a fragile mental state, set to the tune of disjointed guitars and fragmented drums that convey the disarray left in the wake of a breakup.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>The atmospheric apathy of opener <em>\u2018Hibernation\u2019<\/em> accompanies an obscure piano to depict the first of many stages of recovery. <em>\u201cThe pain will leave in the night,\u201d<\/em> reminds <em>\u2018Exit Fears\u2019<\/em>, voicing the little comfort of the healing effects of the passage of time.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cCan you measure the loss?\u201d<\/em> asks <em>\u2018The Separation\u2019<\/em>, brooding in its self-deprecating reflection. Similarly, the energetic instrumental interlude of the echoing <em>\u2018Bleeder\u2019<\/em> at odds with the tedious gloomy guitars of <em>\u2018Your Life In France\u2019<\/em> expose a heartbroken yet tiresome side to the genre that rarely sees the light of day.<\/p>\n<p>Anguish personified, <em>\u2018Root Of The World\u2019<\/em> demonstrates <strong>Ceremony<\/strong>\u2019s appeal to the catastrophic side effects of losing a partner subtly spits venom any chance it can get. <em>\u201cThey came back to you, they always come back to you,\u201d<\/em> reminds <em>\u2018The Party\u2019<\/em>, vocalising a distraught anger from the perspective of the one left behind.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the mind-boggling energetic fretwork of <em>\u2018The Party\u2019 clashing with the melancholic <em>\u2018The Understanding\u2019<\/em>, <em>\u2018The L-Shaped Man\u2019<\/em> draws upon a cacophony of emotive states to suggest a shift toward a realm of bleak realism. Contemplative on heavy loss and the weight of the world, \u2018The Bridge\u2019 comforts itself with the thought that <em>\u201cyour heart was just asleep that night\u201d<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On first listen, <em>\u2018The L-Shaped Man\u2019<\/em> appears an unexpected, at times disastrous move away from <strong>Ceremony<\/strong>\u2019s punk roots. Each note conveys the realism of apathy and confusion of breakup trauma, however bleak and somewhat uninspiring.<\/p>\n<p>2.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2019The L-Shaped Man\u2019<\/em> by <strong>Ceremony<\/strong> is out now on <strong>Matador Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ceremony<\/strong> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/ceremonyhc.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/ceremony\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/ceremony\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ali Cooper (<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/AliZombie_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@AliZombie_<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rooted in the festering anguish of a breakup, Ceremony break tradition to expose heartbreak at its bleakest. Minimalist yet heartfelt, the Californian punk quintet\u2019s fifth studio outing distances itself from their entire back catalogue, introducing a stark, authentic despair driven by vocalist Ross Farrar\u2019s recent romantic turmoil. At first easily misunderstood, \u2018The L-Shaped Man\u2019 presents [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5677,678,5678],"class_list":["post-9868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-ceremony","tag-matador-records","tag-the-l-shaped-man"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review:\u00a0Ceremony -\u00a0The L-Shaped Man - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rooted in the festering anguish of a breakup, Ceremony break tradition to expose heartbreak at its bleakest.Minimalist yet heartfelt, the Californian punk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review:\u00a0Ceremony -\u00a0The L-Shaped Man - 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