Cereus Bright Announce Debut Album 'Excuses' + Hear Lead Single "River Run"

Courtesy: Clarion Call Media

Cereus Bright are proud to announce the upcoming July 29th release of their debut album Excuses. The Knoxville band have launched a Pledgemusic campaign where fans can pre-order the album and get incentives like a private house show, co-writing sessions, merch bundles, and access to future exclusive content with all pre-order purchases. A first taste of what to expect from the album, produced by the band’s own Evan Ford in Tennessee, and mixed by Tom Schick (Wilco, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Beck) at Wilco’s Chicago Studio, can be heard in the first single “River Run” (Links to listen below). In support of their debut album, the band will embark on a national “Closeup” tour today, a hand-crafted tour of intimate shows performed at unique spaces in 30 cities, where Cereus Bright will fill rooms with lights, sound, and beautiful music.

Hear the first single “River Run” on YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify

Pre-Order Excuses via Pledgemusic
http://www.pledgemusic.com/cereusbright

---

Cereus Bright was born out of a blind love of playing music. Meeting each other on a porch in Knoxville, TN, founding members Tyler Anthony and Evan Ford connected over a shared passion–connecting with people by writing and performing meaningful, melodic songs.  “We didn’t know what we were doing at the beginning,” recalls Anthony (acoustic guitar, vocals). “Evan and I wanted to play music and were ready to work hard. So we made a couple EPs and started travelling around the South playing for whoever would listen. We were learning as we went.”

They quickly found kindred spirits in Luke Bowers (drums), Matt Nelson (bass), and Jake Smith (electric guitar).  Jazz performers by trade, the trio’s musicality complemented the raw energy of Anthony and Ford, and Cereus Bright soon became a five-piece.  “We knew right away that we wanted these guys in the band,” says Ford (mandolin, electric guitar, vocals). “Every song felt better with them playing it; we could do more with the arrangements and sound. It made us even more excited to get out there and play.”

So that’s what they did. In the coming year, Cereus Bright played over a hundred tour dates across the country, opening for acts like Sturgill Simpson, The Oh Hellos, Philip Philips and The Lone Bellow. They released videos racking up over 200,000 views and gained over a million plays on Spotify, and gathered thousands of fans.

Their debut album Excuses, recorded at a serene farm nestled in the rolling hills outside of Knoxville, is a decisive step forward from their past EPs, showing newfound complexity in songwriting, arrangements and sound. The full band’s musicality and cohesion shines, at times dipping into folk influences of Bob Dylan and Damien Rice and growing to rock-and-roll heights inspired by Wilco and The Band. Ford recalls, “We decided to evaluate everything we had done in the past and see if it belonged in the future. It was a process of figuring out who we are as a band. What we ended up with is an album that’s more mature, sonically diverse, and has more to say than anything we’ve put out. ”

For tour dates and more visit: cereusbright.com