Cereus Bright Releases New Album 'Anything'

Freak-folk artist Cereus Bright has shared his expansive, sprawling, and psychedelic new album Anything. Cereus Bright has never claimed to know all the answers to life’s questions but that hasn’t stopped him from asking on this dazzling twelve-song effort. The alter-ego of songwriter Tyler Anthony, Cereus Bright beautifully tackles philosophical themes of existentialism (“Horizons”), pondering if life is just about the ordinary (“Chasing the Feeling”), or if there’s more behind the curtain (“Ride”).

“Where my last record was very personal and intimate, I wanted this project to expand to bigger ideas,” he explains. “I attempted to take the mundane and make it abstract. When you put something familiar in an unfamiliar place, you see it differently. To get there, I explored more mythological and otherworldly ideas and sounds than ever before – while trying to retain the core intimacy of songwriting that I’ve always strived for. I hope what we made is a perfect balance.”

The album’s quest for purpose mimics Anthony’s own life journey. He recently left his day job in Knoxville, moving to Mexico City to help establish a recording studio, exhibition space, and community center with a group of local Mexican artists called Casa de Copa Studios. He’s described the experience thus far as “the wildest, hardest, and most exciting I’ve ever had. Learning every day.” 

Life transpires between extreme ups and downs. However, all of the magic happens in the middle of those major occurrences. As if tracing an emotional fault line right down the center, Cereus Bright explores this space with an intimate eye-for-detail and a universal appeal. The Knoxville, TN singer, songwriter, and artist born Tyler Anthony magnifies fits of emotion in the form of magnetic hooks only to delicately examine identity via inventive and immersive soundscapes. After generating over 40 million streams and counting, he hones his vision to perfection on his third full-length offering, Anything.

“There’s a sense of dissonance and friction in the music, and our instincts as humans are to resolve friction and dissonance,” he states. “The older I get, the more I realize being okay with not resolving dissonance is part of living. If you’re in the daily nine-to-five grind, I want you to feel like you can dream beyond that. If you’re chasing a fanciful ambition, I hope you feel like it’s okay to be grounded at times. Modernity pushes absolutes. However, there’s a lot of good from the mystery in the middle. The real heartbeat of these songs is struggling with ordinary existence.”

Since 2012, Cereus Bright has quietly moved into this light. He enraptured, entranced, and engaged listeners with albums such as Excuses [2016] and Give Me Time [2021]. Meanwhile, fan favorite “Stella” amassed 22 million-plus Spotify streams followed by “American Dream” with over 8-million Spotify streams. Along the way, he emerged as the rare presence who could share the stage with either The Oh Hellos or Sturgill Simpson and Philip Phillips. Throughout 2022, he recorded his latest body of work. He’s received the acclaim of tastemakers like Paste, American Songwriter, Talkhouse, and Consequence of Sound.

Beyond expanding the sonic palette, he made a conscious decision to progress lyrically. This is crystallizes in the likes of “Chasing The Feeling.” On the track, soft vocals melt into effervescent beat-craft and airy guitar. It reflects on the memory of a formative feeling as it slips through your fingers.

On “Boys,” a delicately plucked melody pokes through the glassy bass line accented by swooning strings. The verses careen towards a plea, “Don’t wait for me.” Tyler explains, “It turned into a song from parent to child—like life advice. You hope parents would say, ‘Go farther than I did’.”

A steady drum beat drives “Unfaithful” through a haze of horns and cinematic orchestration. The upbeat and electrified “Ride” kicks into high gear with a guitar-boosted high-register hook as he asks, “Do you want to ride?” It’s topped off with a scream over horns on the bridge akin to “a car screeching off a cliff,” according to Tyler.

“Horizons” nods to the philosophy of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and his theory of liquid modernity. “He has a metaphor where we are all on a plane, and we just realized nobody is flying it,” explains Tyler. “So, where is humanity going? Is anyone in control? What do we do?”

“I love it when philosophy, poetry, or art makes me feel seen and connected,” he leaves off. “That’s what I would hope someone experiences when they listen to this. I’m just a songwriter who’s trying to navigate two different worlds, balance being an artist and working a job – to make sense out of life. But I really don’t know either,” he smiles.

Track List: 

1. Seven Wonders
2. Boys
3. Chasing the Feeling 
4. Car Alarm 
5. Only You 
6. Drifting 
7. Pink Sky 
8. City in the Sky 
9. Unfaithful 
10. Ride 
11. Horizons 
12. Don't You Fake It Too? 

Photo Credit: Ross Bustin

To post a comment, you must register and login.