Michael Vidal and Juan Velasquez spent the late-’00s and early-’10s in California band Abe Vigoda. A decade later they’ve re-teamed for new project Cupid & Psyche which has through-lines to what they did before but is also very different. “Michael makes these very long chord progressions that are so strange to me,” Velasquez says of their collaboration. “Then I have to cut my way through it and weave in my own thing…it’s almost like I don’t know what parts are his or mine.”
Taking their name from Scritti Politti’s hit 1985 album (or the ancient story that was named for), Cupid & Psyche are decidedly more friendly, with echoes of ’80s sophistipop and ’90s shoegaze. Their debut album, Romantic Music, will be out October 13 via felte.
The first single from Romantic Music is “Angels on the Phone,” a piece of soaring dreampop that takes a unique look at our online world. “There’s this kind of spiritual nature of the internet—this overall cloud of perspectives and weird God-like omniscient view of the world,” Vidal says, with Velasquez adding, “The internet is like a power greater than yourself, because it’s everyone’s perspectives, thoughts, and viewpoints, all swirling at once.”
You can watch the video for the song below.
ROMANTIC MUSIC:
01. Romantic Music
02. Angels On The Phone
03. Spirit
04. Datura Sketch
05. Anxiety’s Rainbow
06. Serenity’s Pit
07. Against The Light
08. Jessica (Synergy)