RJF (Ross Farrar from Ceremony) announces new album, releases new song “Exile”

RJF, better known as Ross Farrar, vocalist of hardcore vets Ceremony, has announced his third album, Cleaning Out the Empty Administration Building, which is due out August 15 via Dais. Today, RJF has shared the first new single from the album, “Exile,” a slow-burning dirge that pairs a stark piano melody with a post-punk influenced bassline and some dreamy guitar licks. It’s hypnotic and meditative, a much more understated approach than the punk eruptions of his full-time band, bringing to mind the early minimalism of a band like Young Marble Giants while in a similar league as a contemporary such as Amen Dunes. It’s gorgeous and atmospheric, yet immediate, catchy without overplaying its hand. Hear the new song below, and check out the tracklist below.

“I was just saying to myself, these songs should be fun. They shouldn’t be stressful. Do a couple of different takes and call it, you know, don’t obsess over the sounds of everything. Do whatever comes out naturally, and if you feel it, then print it,” Farrar said of the album. The album features 10 tracks pared down from hundreds he’d recorded on borrowed gear in recent years. “It just kept coming.”

RJF Cleaning Out the Empty Administration Building tracklist:

1. Advance
2. The Solitude of Victory
3. Ovidian
4. Gravity Hill
5. In Your City
6. Exile
7. Here Again W/ Birdy
8. Frogs
9. Strawberry
10. Traveling Light From Afar

Pre-order Cleaning Out the Empty Administration Building here.