Introducing: NO CEREMONY///

Coming from a Manchester scene that’s given us a dazzling array of diverse talents – from Stay+ to WU LYF – in recent years, you’d be hard pressed to say that Mancunian three-piece NO CEREMONY/// don’t have a tough pedigree to live up to. Fortunately though, with their self-titled debut album – out this week via their own NOC/// imprint – the Mancunian trio more than justify the hype; its somnambulist piano chords and woozy beats the perfect soundtrack for after-hours train rides and lonely walks down dimly lit streets.

We sent Luke Langlands to chat with the band about the degree of intention behind their media-imposed ‘elusiveness’, the supportive nature of the Manchester scene, and the spirit of collaboration that’s fed much of their output to date. But first, here’s the DEERHEADcx-directed video to recently unveiled album track, ‘PARTOFME’: a track swathed in angelic vocals that bleed over into dissonance, tumultuous four-to-the-floor verses and lofty, seraphic choruses, all underpinned by a steady piano figure that refuses to let go.

PlanetPrime Planet: You’ve said in the past that the NO CEREMONY/// sound came to you all quickly. Does Manchester have a deliberate influence on your sound or is it something that’s more organic?
NO CEREMONY///: Yes, in fact one of the things that brought us together so firmly was this shared understanding of what we all wanted NO CEREMONY/// to be. I think at the very start that collectivity probably came from us as individuals, and how we were personally approaching the band. However, the fact that we’re making our music in Manchester has definitely had a lot of influence. I wouldn’t necessarily say that influence is deliberate, but whether you’re talking about the musical legacy or the current scene, it’s certainly a very inspiring and supportive place to be.

PP: Is there a specific manifesto when it comes to creating your music? You seem to have a knack for creating a wide range of music that still has the same central theme at every track’s core.
NC: Thank you. No, there’s never been any plan to make a certain kind of music or treat a specific track in a certain kind of way. The only thing we’re ever consciously trying to do when we work on new music is to follow the original idea for a track through to its natural conclusion; to make it the best piece of music it can be. The realisation of whether it’s going to be, for instance, a rave track or an atmospheric track, comes quite a long way into the process. What you’ve said has been said about us a lot, and it’s nice to hear that whatever musical direction we find ourselves heading off in, we can always still convey that common thread to the listener.

PP: I’ve read that you ‘want to make sure everyone focuses on the music’. Is encouraging people to only concentrate on the music not going to inadvertently make people talk about things other than the music?
NC: Potentially, yes. There’s a danger that the ‘mystery’ status becomes a genre in itself; a talking point that can affect peoples’ approach and experience of the music. But that reaction is out of our control, and it certainly doesn’t change our intention. When we first started NO CEREMONY///, as flippant as it may sound, all we wanted to do was make music. We were genuinely so excited and focused on that, that things like writing biographies or opening social media pages just dropped so low in our priorities that we ended up not doing them at all. As a new band, we didn’t see how telling people where we grew up or showing them pictures of our faces had any relevance to the music we were making, or their appreciation of it.

So we never set out to be mysterious; we’ve never worn masks onstage and we’re happy to do interviews. It was more just a reluctance to engage with things we considered irrelevant to us making music. I guess to answer your wider question, you just have to hope people take it in the spirit it was intended, and put their reactions to the music – good or bad – at the forefront of their conversation with us.

PP: What do you consider to be the biggest achievement of the band so far?
NC: So much has happened over the past 2 years that it’s hard to single anything out. If you’d asked in a few weeks time I’d be talking about the debut album release, but it’s not quite September yet! Honestly, I think what I’ve enjoyed the most has been all the collaborations. Both Joey Santiago and James Vincent McMorrow are on our album, and both were great, inspiring people to work with. Last year we did a one off track with Stay+, and we work closely on the visual side of the band with our friend and long-term collaborator DEERHEADcx. As I said before, all we’re focused on is making the best music we can, and it’s been very inspiring that every time we’ve collaborated, those people have shared that same, ego-less drive to just get the best out of the track no matter what. We’ve been very lucky to work with such talented, like-minded people.

PP: What can we expect from NO CEREMONY/// for the rest of 2013?
NC: We’ve just revealed a new song, ‘PARTOFME’, along with a great video directed by DEERHEADcx. Our debut album is out on 2nd September and we start a full European tour on the 13th, including a show supporting the Pixies at the Roundhouse in London as part of the iTunes Festival.

– Alex Cull (Interview by Luke Langlands)

NO CEREMONY///’s self-titled debut album is available now. You can order it here.