For most of its seven-year run, The Old Ceremony has been its own home. Of the band’s four full-lengths, three have been released by Alyosha Records, run by the band’s leader, Django Haskins. After years of intermittent toil and triumph that have seen The Old Ceremony become one of the Triangle’s most beloved pop-rock bands, the band has signed to N.C.-based indie mainstay Yep Roc Records. The label will release the band’s fifth LP — the awkwardly titled Fairytales and Other Forms of Suicide — on Aug. 21.
Yep Roc is a fitting home for The Old Ceremony. Their darkly tinged pop is well-indebted to many of the luminaries that call the label home. The energetic power-pop of the band’s brighter numbers nods to institutional Brit-rocker Paul Weller as well as the Canada-based Sloan. Haskins’ macabre sense of ’50s and ’60s melody has much in common with that of Nick Lowe. The Old Ceremony’s mark is one of appropriating timeless traditions and filling them with new energy. As a label, Yep Roc does much the same, collecting accomplished heroes and promising newcomers that maintain indie rock’s rich heritage. In short, the two couldn’t be more appropriately matched.
The Old Ceremony plays Cat’s Cradle on Friday alongside John Dee Holeman. The 9 p.m. show costs $12.
