Cupid & Psyche Announce Debut LP ‘Romantic Music’, Drop “Angels On The Phone”

Cupid & Psyche Announce Debut LP 'Romantic Music', Drop "Angels On The Phone"

Los Angeles-based indie rock/dream pop/alt duo Cupid & Psyche, made up of Michael Vidal & Juan Velasquez (formerly of Abe Vigoda), have announced the release of their debut studio album ‘Romantic Music‘.

The 8-track record will be out on September 22 through Felte Records. Pre-order your copy here.

First gaining recognition in the late aughts as members of the punk band Abe Vigoda, whose album Crush came out in 2010, the two have now reunited as collaborators for the first time in a decade.

Finding themselves unmotivated by the pandemic, the two proposed going back into a practice room just to “make a bunch of noise,” Vidal says. As they reconnected over a cacophony of guitar feedback, they felt a surge of creativity and feeling of ease—the kind only a close friend could inspire.

Though they pull from a wide array of ‘80s and ‘90s influences, Cupid & Psyche bring together these disparate moods and genres through their own esoteric lens on Romantic Music—making for a singular sound that at once feels familiar and alluringly hypnotic. Listeners will detect the gloom of post-punk and goth, the haziness of dream-pop and shoegaze, the bittersweet guitar melodies of second-wave emo, as well as the manic electronic rhythms of trip-hop and big beat.

Technology is also presented as a greater force on their catchy lead single “Angels On the Phone,” whose breezy surf rock melodies hover above a bed of ticking drums. “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. “The internet is like a power greater than yourself, because it’s everyone’s perspectives, thoughts, and viewpoints, all swirling at once,” Velasquez adds.

Check out the album’s tracklist and watch the video for “Angels On The Phone“, below.

Cupid & Psyche ‘Romantic Music’ Tracklist:
  1. Romantic Music
  2. Angels On The Phone
  3. Spirit
  4. Datura Sketch
  5. Anxiety’s Rainbow
  6. Serenity’s Pit
  7. Against The Light
  8. Jessica (Synergy)

The LP’s title Romantic Music is tongue-in-cheek, since there are no love songs proper on the project, and the phrase itself can imply a kind of light listening. But it befits that deep bond that the members have, as friends who understand and empathize with each other’s worst, so they’re capable of bringing out each other’s best.