Sound of Ceres are a relatively new Brooklyn band that comes with some deep credentials. They’re on Joyful Noise Recordings and are loaded with members from acts like Candy Claws, the Drums and the Apples in Stereo. Their particular brand of dreampop exists on a stranger plane steeped in psychedelia and electronics. But to get too into just their sound is to miss much, perhaps the majority, of their vision and aesthetic.
As their recent Orlando show ahead of Friday’s release of their sophomore album (The Twin) proved, this is a band conceived to be seen live, with elaborate stage craft that arguably bests their highly textured soundscapes.
First of all, their laser game is serious. Just as notable is that it’s neither high technology nor passive backdrop. They work the beams with basic fog, screens and mirrors to produce 3-D effects, and the most moving moments are when the players manipulate the light manually, which they do with great purpose and precision.
While their etheric music often drifts, their visual presentation is a thing of exceptional focus. Low-tech but high effect, this is next-level DIY production.
In fact, their optical flair is such that their music can seem like just a soundtrack to it. But together, it all turns a room into a nocturnal wonderland of intergalactic rendering. Until you see them live, you’ve only scratched the surface of the multimedia Sound of Ceres experience.
Opening were Breathers, an Atlanta band making their Orlando debut who are apparently current darlings of some Elephant 6 founders – specifically, the Apples in Stereo’s Robert Schneider and the Olivia Tremor Control’s Will Cullen Hart, whose new collaboration, the Patient, just shared a 7-inch split with them. The adoration’s maybe a little curious for such a decidedly revivalist act as Breathers, whose ‘80s synth-pop is so authentic that you’d swear you’d tripped over a time-warp threshold if the rest of the band only looked like the singer.
There are perhaps some weird edges to what they do but, with their clean sophisti-pop leanings, Breathers are a patently retro band. Still, they do it with faith and deserve lots of stage credit for bringing an arsenal of synths and actually playing much of the music live with up to three keyboard players at once, including some live drumming, which is gravy for a synth act.
Launching the night was nice local surprise Aveleon. This solo project of Caitlin Pequignot is an indie-pop act that combines electronic and classical.
The intimate electronic production of her tracks is both counterbalanced and warmed by the airy, organic touch of her violin and her clear, velvet voice. Her violin playing is for real, too, and not just for texture or layer. When it comes in, it leads. And her pillow-crooning voice is the kind that inhabits a room and makes it breathe. Taken together, it’s lovely pop music with just enough twist to catch.
