Album Review: Blanket - Ceremonia
Reviewed by Tim Finch
This March see’s the return of Blanket who release latest album ‘Ceremonia’ via Church Road Records. Building off the critical acclaim of previous opus ‘Modern Escapism’, we see the band grow, enhancing everything that made ‘Modern Escapism’ so good and multiplying it ten fold.
From the opening notes of ‘Nuclear Boy Scout’ the listener is taken on a rollercoaster ride of pace, story telling and emotion. Juxtaposing styles of post-rock, shoegaze and late 90’s/early 2000’s alt-rock they produce a work which is nothing short of exhilarating.
The band comment “We wanted to capture the music we loved as kids like BritPop etc and make it heavier” which is the perfect description for this album. The pop-rock that the BritPop movement made so strong is here in spades, with hints of the likes of Heavy Stereo and Supergrass evident. But the aggression is heightened, there is an underlying tone that sets this apart, heavier elements that leave the listener with a feeling of unease and the band weaves its tale through the music.
Title track ‘Ceremonia’ is a whirlwind of angst, stood in contrast to ‘Porcelain’ which feels in tone like a perfect comedown soundtrack, and followed by the awesome heavy riff that flows through ‘Kaleidoscope’.
The band switched thing sup with the recording of this album, trying to capture the vibe of playing tracks live, writing and recording together one song at a time. This seems to pay off with a record that feels honestly composed and not robotically recorded and polished to perfection.
Fans of the new wave of post-rock acts hitting the air waves in recent years will not help but be bowled over by this release. Blanket have recorded one of the post-rock albums of the year, that hopefully will bring them the attention they so rightly deserve.
