Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? (Vinyl)

The Soft Pink Truth (Drew Daniel also of Matmos) grafts chamber music and electronic music into a beguiling new hybrid pop album that evokes mid-20th century film soundtracks with nods to minimalism. Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? features artwork by Robert Beatty (Tame Impala, The Weeknd). The new album features a host of special guests: Bill Orcutt offers one of his most delicate performances committed to record. Other guests include strings arranger Ulas Kurugullu, harpists Neleta Ortiz and Cecilia Cuccolin, pianists Koye Berry and M.C. Schmidt, strings player Kurugullu, and the Ebu String Quartet, as well as woodwind players by Brandon Wilkins and Evelyn Frances and Zach Rowden of celebrated noise duo Tongue Depressor provides grinding double bass drones.

Wedding emotional expression with canny references to the inherited history of recorded music, the chimes, organ and pizzicato strings on “Phrygian Ganymede” recall Bernard Herrmann’s scores for classic Alfred Hitchcock films, while galloping marimbas lend a sense of screwball comedy on “L’Esprit de L’Escalier.” Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? is a singular album that speaks to the prowess of Drew Daniel as a composer and producer, deftly interlacing pop structure and classical timbre while interlacing subtle electronic sound design with gorgeous acoustics. Across the album Daniel embraces a spirit of drama and romanticism that blurs the boundaries between unconscious desire and everyday reality.

The Soft Pink Truth has created a sound world of lavish fantasy that acts as a balm and counterpoint to the communal pains of modern life.