PREMIERE | Eyedress, "Can I See You Tonight?"

The iconic Idris Vicuña of Eyedress; photographed by Razy Faouri.

Somewhere in the tumult of chaos and contemporary calamity there can heard something sweet, sad and serene swaying in the convection spin of the summer breeze. Somehow certain sparks and rays of 2020’s flickering and complicated light carries elements, crafts and components from the carefree days of 2010. Exemplary of this aesthetic push is the elusive Filipino American phenom Eyedress who orchestrates analog pop diamonds more chill than any trendy wave from the past decades. Announcing today the new album Let's Skip to the Wedding arriving August 7 — Idris Vicuña provides a preview with the debut of the anxious and ecstatic heartfelt feels of “Can I See You Tonight?”. Following up Week in Pop’s premiere of the angst-core cool of “Jeaous”; Eyedress invites the audience to ride on the lo-fi wings of desire that soar upward to the highest heights of fidelity.

“Can I See You Tonight?” sounds like the accumulation of the past forty-something years of romantic balladry. The keys allude to the earnest and valiant undergrounds of the early 80s, sewing sentimental lyrics into the DIY melancholia minimalism released by, at that time, fledgling independent imprints. Eyedress hones in on that particular cadence where you can hear the transition from Bunnymen-haired Mary Chains stepping into the new bombast luster of new romanticism that would evolve into the yuppie boomer bop of adult contemporary. Idris taps into that classic bedroom-based spirit of Captured Tracks’ first graduating class, nurturing songs of love and loss through the means of rudimentary instrumental resources of creative expression. The interplay of chords and keys paint a portrait of a heart all aflutter, executed with a raw mix that rolls the clocks back to a time before our world pop movements stepped toward a more polished and neatly produced product. Vicuña curates an aesthetic that is fashioned after the truths and sentiments of the heart.

“Tonight?” digs into that painstakingly passionate plea to steal away with a loved one into the sun of day and run with the light of the moon by night, coasting on the ecstasy of connections that abide by an intricate chemistry and alchemy that all whom experience it are at a loss of adjectives to define. The recited title is relayed like a hopeful text, a missed-call voice mail, a whispered utterance into a phone receiver, or an urgent telegram carried by pigeon or dove through the city skies. Eyedress shares a love story song that basks in the onset of amour, the exchanges, the giddiness, the getting -to-know one another and more, with a modernist flair applied to a classic genre trope. The intrigue continues even after the track has run its course as the affectionate excesses, lustiness and sincerity is sent off at last with the alliterative response of tomorrow….tomorrow… that keeps the pages turning toward the next anticipatory chapter.

Reflections from Eyedress, aka Idris Vicuña; photographed by Razy Faouri.

Eyedress’s own Idris Vicuña provided the following exclusive insights on “Can I See You Tonight?” and the upcoming album Let’s Skip to the Wedding:

The track

I was influenced by The Wake, Wild Nothing, cold wave shit... me and my girlfriend made it a while ago before she moved to LA. she would visit me from Vegas and we recorded this during one of her visits.

The song is about the early times when I would start seeing my girlfriend; like all the first dates and wanting to see her really bad every day and every night. The feeling of wanting to be together with her all the time; just falling in love.

The LP

My next album is for everyone who wants to be in a serious relationship, real simp shit.

Let’s Skip to the Wedding will be available August 7 via Lex Records.