Hong Kong-based band Lucid Express release their second album, Instant Comfort, on February 20th via Kanine Records, and they’ve shared a beautiful new single, ‘Faux Sweetness.’
The track opens with a droning theremin before launching into a layered, woozy soundscape where bass, synth, and guitars entwine to create a dreamy feeling that intersects shoegaze and indie pop, threaded with the ethereal vocals of Kim Ho.
Of the new single, Ho says, “on ‘Faux Sweetness’ we return to some of our earliest indie pop influences while also mixing in some of the darker sounds we’ve picked up over years of experimenting in our studio space. It kind of led us to make something that is both heavier and more delicate than anything we’d written up to that point.”
A follow-up to the band’s self-titled 2021 debut and 2022’s reissue of their Floret EP, Instant Comfort was mixed by Kurt Feldman (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Depreciation Guild) during marathon overnight trans-Pacific sessions via Discord. It captures the unsettling stillness of the nighttime hours, pairing airy melodies with walls of jangling guitars and hazy, swirling feedback.
Having played festivals like Slide Away and LEVITATION, Lucid Express will return to North America in the spring for a string of dates and festival stops, including NYC’s New Colossus Festival and Austin’s SXSW in March. See below for upcoming shows, with more to be announced soon.
Upcoming shows:
3/5: New York, NY – New Colossus
3/7: New York, NY – New Colossus
3/14-3/16: Austin, TX – SXSW
3/20: Toronto, ON – Wavelength Festival
