Karen and Ryan Hover are the married duo behind Fort Collins band Sound of Ceres. They recorded three synth-pop albums as Candy Claws before venturing into ethereal space-rock territory with their new group.
The Hovers recruited members of The Polyphonic Spree and Brooklyn indie rockers The Drums for "Nostalgia For Infinity," their debut album as Sound of Ceres. The band released the album March 4 and recently performed at the South by Southwest music showcase in Austin, Texas.
We welcomed Sound of Ceres into the CPR Performance Studio shortly before their trip to SXSW. The band performed three songs from their recent debut album and spoke with OpenAir's Alisha Sweeney about leaving Candy Claws behind, the five sonic "orbits" behind their album and their expectations for SXSW 2016.
Stream the session and watch video above and read interview highlights below.
Ryan Hover on the "orbits" mentioned in the "Nostalgia For Infinity" liner notes:
"It's just the different ways that you can engage in the songs. The first orbit ... that's just the sound of the music itself -- not even the meaning of the words yet. It's just the sound, the tones of the instruments.
"As you go deeper, further into the orbits, you get more into the meaning of the lyrics. ... And the very innermost orbit is finally what you yourself get out of the entire experience of how far you want to dig into the different meanings. Everyone's experience with the album is different. Even Karen is going to hear it differently than I hear it."
Karen Hover on the album's surreal lyrics:
"We just kind of look up old storybooks and mash the words together to create otherworldly sentences that don't really make sense. That's always been kind of fun for us in our lyrics, to create crazy words."
Songs performed:
- "Ember Age"
- "Hand of Winter"
- "Dagger Only Run"
