Ghosts, grocery store clerks, jetlag and the "Magic Hour." Those are just a few things you will hear on The Old Ceremony's new album Sprinter.
The Old Ceremony has crafted its sound for more than a decade. With Sprinter, guitarist and lead singer Django Haskins said the band welcomed some exciting outside help from R.E.M.'s Mike Mills, whose contribution comes to fruition in the song "Fall Guy."
"He went in and started layering vocals, and with each layer my teenage self got more and more excited," Haskins said.
Along with Mills, the band also worked with producers Chris Stamey and Mitch Easter. Haskins said their assistance was refreshing to the band's work.
"We've made enough records together that we know what it would sound like. We know the choices we would make, and we like it. But in a certain way, wanted to be surprised a bit and we were," Haskins said.
Sprinter is sprinkled with the help of music icons like Mills, but the heart of the album is intimate and alluring. This is heard most clearly on "Ghosts of Ferriday," where Haskins begins with a chilling introduction of "You'll survive all of this if it kills you."
"This kind of just jumping right into the action, that style of writing I really enjoy every once in a while," Haskins said. "You just need a way that isn't, 'I woke up this morning.'"
The Old Ceremony will play two record release shows at the Cat's Cradle Back Room in Carrboro on Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18. The shows will feature Carrboro's Skylar Gudasz and Asheville's Stephanie's Id.
