Futures

Anyone with affection for treasure of a particularly luminous dream-pop vintage will know about Joe Cassidy and his alias Butterfly Child. Having recorded three albums and a handful of EPs in the Nineties (Rough Trade / Luka Bop / Dedicated), in 2012 a brand new Butterfly Child single "No Longer Living In Your Shadow" was released without any fanfare, as Cassidy wasn't then sure of what he was shaping up for.

This is now resolved, as the first Butterfly Child album in 18 years is here. 'Futures' refutes any fears that Cassidy couldn't match past glories with an epic, radiant 54-minute journey invested with his usual melodic richness - both musical and vocal - and a more widescreen production, even though the record was recorded at Cassidy's LA home.

Sonically, the album lives somewhere between The Beach Boys and dreampop, but with a much more direct emotional impact, between bliss and melancholy. It combines new songs with unreleased older material, reaching as far back as Cassidy's very first demos as a teenager, and lyrics inspired by relationships past and present, and where Cassidy is now, 24 years after Butterfly Child's first release.