John Cale has announced his 18th studio album, POPtical Illusion, arriving on June 14th via Double Six/Domino.
The announcement arrives just over a year after Cale’s last album, Mercy, which was his first solo album in seven years. For POPtical Illusion, the Welsh musician and composer has teamed up once again with regular collaborator Nita Scott, and centered his sound on a more hopeful attitude than Mercy. According to a press release, Cale is keeping his gaze toward the future on POPtical Illusion: “[Cale] foregoes the illustrious cast to burrow mostly alone into mazes of synthesizers and samples, organs and pianos, with words that, as far as Cale goes, constitute a sort of swirling hope, a sage insistence that change is yet possible.”
To preview POPtical Illusion, Cale has offered “How We See the Light,” and shared its stylized, Pepi Ginsberg-directed video. Over warm, syncopated piano stabs, Cale narrates the end of a relationship in his deep baritone: “In between the way we see the light/ Then we lose control and jump the fence,” he sings, with echoes of his voice trailing off at the end of each phrase.
The song’s video pairs the meditative atmosphere with a story of two office workers finding connection in a droll, corporate setting. Each person wears an oversized headpiece that serves as a mask, and the video often centers around moments of loaded eye contact and lightly expressive body language. Watch the video below.
In addition to being available on digital, CD, and 2xLP formats, POPtical Illusion will also be available in a Domino Mart pink & mint vinyl 2xLP edition pressing of 1000. The limited edition vinyl includes a 7-inch featuring two exclusive tracks, and a POPitem – an illusionary twirling paper objet. Pre-orders are ongoing.
POPtical Illusion Album Artwork:
POPtical Illusion Tracklist:
01. God Made Me Do It (don’t ask me again)
02. Davies and Wales
03. Calling You Out
04. Edge of Reason
05. I’m Angry
06. How We See The Light
07. Company Commander
08. Setting Fires
09. Shark-Shark
10. Funkball the Brewster
11. All To the Good
12. Laughing In My Sleep
13. There Will Be No River
