Ceres On Why They Were 'Fighting The Pop' In Their Music

"I'm so stoked how it turned out," Ceres frontman Tom Lanyon extols on his band's latest album as we clink glasses to celebrate its release. "I'm actually kinda proud of it 'cause I think there was a lot on that first record, and even on the EPs and stuff like that, which feels like us sorta stabbing in the dark trying to find who we are, I guess, as a band."

Previously, Ceres have flirted with the "juxtaposition of poppy and dark" in their songs. "A song off the old record, I Feel Fine, I Feel Sick - it's about my dad dying and it's so poppy," Lanyon offers by way of example, before pointing out that performing this song live can be a bit strange. "Everyone's dancing around and it's like, 'You have no idea what this song's about, really.'" On the band's latest Drag It Down On You album, Lanyon observes, "There's a lot more just dark and dark".

"At the beginning it's my idea and then I take it to the band and it's something else, but then just where it will go feels out of my control for some reason."

Reflecting on the art of songwriting, Lanyon admits, "I've never felt completely in control of a song. It's kind of - at the beginning it's my idea and then I take it to the band and it's something else, but then just where it will go feels out of my control for some reason." When it's suggested Lanyon is a vessel for Ceres songs to enter through, he chuckles, "It does sound wanky, but it does feel like that sometimes."

The band called on Tom Bromley (Los Campesinos!) to produce Drag It Down On You and Lanyon gushes, "He's not just the dream producer, he was the only producer that I would think of to do something with." Lanyon describes himself as a "psycho fan" of Los Campesinos!, admitting that he used to pore over press photos of the band. "Just by looking at his photo I was like, 'He looks like a nice guy,'" Lanyon laughs, "I'm that kinda psycho dude going, 'He looks like he'd be a lovely guy to hang out and have a beer with."' 

Lanyon also praises Bromley's ability to instinctively know what each song needed. "He knew when to make stuff super-lush and really claustrophobic sometimes, and he knew when to take everything out and then open it up." At one point when he was playing a song for Bromley, Lanyon shares, "He was just like, 'You guys fight the pop in your music'... He was like, 'Just open it up, put some false endings in there, like, let's just use some classic songwriting mechanics that you guys have shied away from.'" So why does Lanyon reckon Ceres were doing this? "I think we were just trying to not write another [I Don't Want To Be] Anywhere But Here, which was pretty poppy. I wanted to write a darker record and what was coming out was darker, but [Bromley] injected a lot of hooks in there, which was cool." When asked whether Ceres work with the producer again, Lanyon reveals, "We're already talking about the next record and stuff like that, so it's really cool."