College/Art Rock: Ceramic's 5-song EP

Ceramic, led by John Scheaffer, has all of the elements of College/Indie rock on their self-titled 5-song EP—atmospheric, restrained drums; close-miked vocals and guitars; sparsely but well-placed additional instruments and voices; and a mix that recalls late nights in production rooms in nearly vacant buildings on campus.

The experimental electronics that meets these organic compositions on “Held Inside” and “Scene to Scene” bring to mind the side projects of the Church—Steven Kilbey’s eeire odd world and Marty Wilson-Piper’s otherwordly folk pop. The hold-back-the-reigns rock also puts Ceramic in the company of other College/Art Rock artists like For Stars, Consafos, and the Castanets.

However, don’t pass up track 1 too quickly which reveals another elements which prove to come more forward in future work. “Wake Up the Rain” has the Jazz-influence Rock of John Mayer. Scheaffer’s voice isn’t as bell-toned, but the pop spin of the blue lights aurally appears in the guitar slides, dance rock drums, and the keys plucking the melody. Ceramic is doing the Indie Rock with that College/Art experiment, but with the Jazz-influence, you realize they aren’t far-removed from a jazz combo who take a standard form and pull and push and stretch and wait until more and more sounds arrive.

Thanks to Ceramic, Mother West Records, and Papercup Music for the review copy.