Cerulean >> You'll never get this close

California Month continued, tremor #37:

Cerulean - "Here Is Hoping"

(Spinwheel Records, 2004 or '05)

Cerulean were or are a shoegaze / post-punk type band from Los Angeles, which puts them in the same raft with a few hundred other L.A. bands, most of which sucked.  This song does not suck.  It's from their 2005 album No Sense In Waiting, and may be a re-recorded version of the one on their 2004 EP Fractions.  I have both versions, and they seem nearly identical, but this one is louder and punchier, with more savage drumming.

It's quite similar in terms of guitar and tempo to U2's spiky classic "I Will Follow", while packing enough merits of its own to not be considered a mere xerox.  I first obtained this song in 2005, I think, and then four or five years later I was pleasantly stunned to find out that they had made a music video for it:

I think the 2003 copyright at the beginning is a typo.  With a slightly less-cryptic chorus ("And did you ever understand that all you ever did was bait us in waiting?"), this song could've been a huge hit.  I guess that lyric is a reference to the album title?  Fittingly, the next song after this one on my iTunes in "In Shreds" by The Chameleons, one of Cerulean's biggest influences...

The band's bio on CDBaby.com says "The Los Angeles trio weaves layers of dreamy, swirling riffs that seem to transcend the Earth, propelled into the heavens with relentless energy and a wallop of radiant pop hooks. Featuring vocalist/guitarist/bassist Rick Bolander, guitarist Noel Kelly, and drummer Dave Cerwonka, Cerulean picks up where British rock groups such as Catherine Wheel and Ride left off, utilizing walls of guitars that sparkle while they storm through a psychedelic haze. Bolander's voice recalls the melancholic, romantic crooning of English college bands from the late '80s and early '90s although the group is not fixated on nostalgia. Produced by David Newton, the former guitarist of alternative-rock pioneers the Mighty Lemon Drops, No Sense In Waiting showcases Cerulean's dazzling intensity and otherworldly chime."

Undated pic from their MySpace page, by Tania Nyberg

My page-a-day calendar features this nice 1898 painting by Homer Winslow called Palm Tree, Nassau:

I'm not a fan of his stuff, but this is just beautifully done, and gets my competitive juices going.  This page has a composite image which shows the progression of his paintings over the years.

Planets with similar climatees: U2 - "I Will Follow" (1980), The Joy Circuit - "The New Sunrise" (2004), The Chameleons - "In Shreds" (1981), Swervedriver - "Son Of Mustang Ford" (1990), Sonic Youth - "Hey Joni" (1988), Catherine Wheel - "Texture" (1992), A Place To Bury Strangers - "I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart" (~2005), Failure - "Undone" (1993).


Update one day later: I listened to this song in my car for the first time ever, after only listening it to it on my computer for all these years, and mother of all that is infinite, it fucking slays even more than I had already known it to slay.  It just leaps out of the speakers.  The drumming is even more savagely perfect than I had thought, and I almost accidentally punched through my windshield while furiously air drumming at 70 MPH.  This was immediately after playing basketball for 3 1/2 hours straight, and I got a huge infusion o' energy.  I think it might be the best pure rock song of the decade, and it reminds me of why I scour the earth for this kind of music.  My only problem is with the video, because when I listen to this song, images of car crashes, supernovas, tidal waves other dangerous things hurtle through my head, and the video doesn't parlay any of this at all.