It’s been three years since the California punk institution Ceremony released In The Spirit World Now, their last album. Ceremony have been consistently moving from sound to sound ever since their early powerviolence days, and In The Spirit World Now took clear inspiration from new wave in general and from early New Order in particular. In the time since that LP’s release, the members of Ceremony have kept themselves busy with different projects; the great band Spice, which features Ceremony single Ross Farrar and drummer Jake Casarotti, will release their sophomore album Viv next month. Now that Ceremony are gearing up to hit the road with Turnstile, Citizen, and others, they’ve just shared a new 12″ that moves them into a whole different sonic territory.

Ceremony’s new 12″ features two new songs, “Vanity Spawned By Fear” and “California Poppy.” “Vanity Spawned By Fear” is arch, twithy post-punk, complete with a squawking saxophone solo. It’s definitely got some Talking Heads in its DNA. “California Poppy,” the other new song, is a slow-building drone that’s tense and soothing in equal measures. Neither of these tracks really resembles anything that Ceremony has released in the path. This band just doesn’t sit still.

In a press release, Ceremony guitarist Anthony Anzaldo Jr. says, “We do our best to keep futility a secret, a cognitive exercise with feeble reward. The Poppy field reminds us that not all things are meant to be altered. In California, Vanity is spawned by fear.” Below, listen to both songs and watch the real-time collage video for “Vanity Spawned By Fear” that Ross Farrar co-directed with Nedda Afsari.

“Vanity Spawned By Fear” b/w “California Poppy” is out now on Relapse Records.