Composer and Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale has announced his new album Poptical Illusion with a video for his new song “How We See the Light.” The record arrives June 14 (via Double Six/Domino). The single challenges the anger running through the rest of the record with a bit of longing and reflection, captured in its Pepi Ginsberg–directed music video featuring papier-mâché heads. Watch it below.
Poptical Illusion was co-produced by Cale and his longtime artistic partner Nita Scott in his Los Angeles studio. Across its 13-track runtime, the album finds Cale playing synthesizers, organs, pianos, and more.
Poptical Illusion is Cale’s second album within a year, arriving closely on the heels of 2023’s Mercy. That record, which included the singles “Night Crawling” and the Weyes Blood–starring “Story of Blood,” featured contributions from Animal Collective, Sylvan Esso, Laurel Halo, Tei Shi, and Actress.
Read about Brian Eno and John Cale’s “Lay My Love” at No. 232 on “The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s.”
Poptical Illusion:
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