Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Ceremony Shadows
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
I remember as a child discovering the vinyl record collection of my parents and listening to “Magical Mystery Tour” by The Beatles. I was blown away by everything about it, from the cover art to the music itself, and I loved how it took my mind and emotions into places I didn’t even know existed.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
My best friend as a teenager had an electric guitar and played in a band, and I thought that creating music with others was just about the most exciting thing one could do with one’s life. So, I bought an electric guitar as well, and soon discovered that I loved writing music with synthesizers – the possibilities of creating sounds with synths seemed endless, and I feel like I’m even more passionate about creating music now than I did as a teenager.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Ceremony Shadows started off as an experimental/ambient solo project, and we soon discovered that creative collaboration and vocals elevated our music, and our current lineup was born!
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Our music lives in the Darkwave realm, so if artists like Depeche Mode or Boy Harsher are on your playlists, you’ll enjoy our music. Given the origin story of the band starting off as an experimental/ambient project, you’ll hear echoes of that experimentalism infused throughout, so make sure to listen to our debut album “Ascension” on headphones, and discover lots of interesting aural details!
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Working with others will elevate your creative output to a different level! It’s so important to not let your ego get in the way of creating the best possible songs, and working with others will not only inject plenty of new ideas into the creative process, it also helps to give perspective to your own ideas, which may not be very good at times 🙂
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
We love making electronic music, so all of our gear is focused around that. Synths, drum machines, and digital audio workstations allow us to access a wide range of synthetic textures, and we are starting to explore electronic manipulation of vocals, which is an exciting new direction for us.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
I recently discovered Blake Harley, and can’t get her song “Under My Spell” out of my mind!
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
I grew up in Germany, and live in the USA. Consequently, I’ve always felt I’ve lived in a strange space between worlds, so I’m trying to create interesting sonic spaces between worlds with our music as well.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Self-awareness and self-empowerment are big themes in our songwriting. Life can be incredibly difficult sometimes, and we hope our music is a reminder that we all have agency and the power to choose how we respond to situations we find ourselves in.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
If you have a creative streak, you should make space in your life to nourish that to feel whole. This isn’t only important for well-being, it also allows to relate to others in different ways, and it will open doors and let you get to know people who otherwise would likely not cross your path. This isn’t always, easy, but it’s worth it!
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
We would love to perform at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig. It’s my favorite festival, and I go every year. It would be a dream come true for us to play there!
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I’ve always loved Sigur Rós, and the otherworldly soundscapes that they create. They were a conceptual inspiration for me to start my experimental/ambient project that was the genesis of this band, and collaborating with Sigur Rós would be amazing.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
It’s so important to have good listener metrics on Spotify to get on the radar of bookers and promoters, exposing us to new opportunities to bring our music to more people, and you can listen to our music there:
If you prefer to listen to music on a different platform, we are on all of them!
And please follow us on Instagram, we enjoy posting little updates of our creative journey there:
https://www.instagram.com/ceremonyshadows
And you can find lots of details about us on our website:
https://www.ceremonyshadows.com
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
We would love to bring our music to more people live, and would love an opportunity to play shows in Europe, given that two of us are originally from there (Germany and Poland, respectively)!
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
It’s really important for us to write music that’s not just fun to listen to, but that engages the listener on a deeper level. So we take great care in writing lyrics that will hopefully make you think, and give you new perspectives. We also put a lot of effort into our live shows, with custom-programmed lights and videos to enhance our stage presence, so if you get a chance to check us out live, please do come and say hi!
