This month, Candy Claws celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their timeless album, Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time. Today, they announce a vinyl reissue out August 4th on Twosyllable Records. Presented on a gorgeous double gatefold pressing alongside a dual-mono instrumental edition, previously only available on cassette from cult heroes Flannelgraph Records, this reissue is accompanied by a bonus CD containing “Distortion Spear,” a brand new song from the original lineup of the band which marks Candy Claws’ first new music in a decade.

When Candy Claws – Ryan Hover, K Hover, and Hank Bertholf – released their third and ultimately final album Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time in June of 2013, they couldn’t have known the ripple effects that would ensue. The record sparked an immediate cult following, with huge, savage shoegaze guitars and the prettiest melodies this side of Paul McCartney’s daydreams. Returning to it once more, it’s a record of startling beauty and unfathomable strangeness. 10 years on, Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time is arguably more popular than ever.  It’s time to soak up the blissful, other-wordly wonder of this titanic dream pop statement all over again.

Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time occupies a truly special place in the lives of those responsible for its construction. “It wasn’t like we had nothing to lose,” Ryan notes, “but at this point, we just felt like doing something a little more fun and exciting.” So they went back to their bedroom studio, turned up the amps and created a whole new world. Working with exacting detail, Candy Claws brought their opus to life. Arrangements from New York composer Bryan Senti lift the work to a fresh dimension, counteracting the band’s own DIY tendencies. “White Seal (Shell & Spine)” is pitched somewhere between Broadcast and The Left Banke, somehow eclipsing both. “Pangaea Girls (Magic Feeling)” is like waking up to the most beautiful sunrise you’ve ever seen, a work of overwhelming purity. “Fallen Tree Bridge (Brave Rainbow Rider)” meanwhile pivots between the French pop Brigitte Bardot and the physicality of key touchstone Blonde Redhead.

The album’s lyrics contain a daring concept: etched by award-winning poet Jenn Morea, they trace the journey of a girl and a seal through the Mesozoic Era. “We wanted to transport people to these lush jungles, but with this constant, almost alien danger all around you,” Ryan comments. “It’s just this huge sound. But then in the midst of it, there are these whispery, delicate vocals. That juxtaposition is one of our favorite things to do in music, and I think we kind of took that to its most extreme on this album.”

A lot has happened since Candy Claws released Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time. Namely, the band came to a natural end, with Bertholf focusing on outside projects while Ryan and K Hover have led Sound Of Ceres to wide-ranging acclaim. Yet, Candy Claws’ legacy remains with them — from online wormholes of Ceres & Calypso followers, to simple requests at the merch desk for another pressing. With prices surging online for ultra-collectible original editions, the band were happy to comply.

Candy Claws are now split between the East and West coast, their mutual roots in Fort Collins now long since paved over. But Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Timeremains — a kind of haunting, audio equivalent to a Studio Ghibli animation, akin to emerging from a dream and trying to piece together what your mind just glimpsed. Listening to the record once more, Ryan Hover is left with no regrets. “If it had all just gone into the ether, and been forgotten about, then we might have some regrets. But for some reason, there was just some spark on this one that people are still connecting with. It still feels like a really exciting thing to dive into.”

Photo Courtesy: Eric Evans