CUSTARD FLUX – Enter Xenon (2025, LP/CD, Self Released)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Self-Released

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, 180g Black Vinyl (includes a 7″x 7″ 16 page booklet filled with illustrations inspired by song lyrics from the album, with lyrics and album credits, a one sided 7” single of Les Machoires de la Mort, and a cool Winter illustration sticker, all kept in a reusable plastic bag), 100 copies

Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition (comes inside a 7″ x 7″ 16 page booklet filled with illustrations inspired by song lyrics on the album, with lyrics and album credits, plus three cool stickers of provisions that were stored in the hold, all housed in a stiff clear plastic sleeve), 100 copies

Release Date: 1 June 2025

From the flickering shadows of Detroit’s psych underground, solar psych visionary Gregory Curvey returns with another labyrinthine dream under his Custard Flux moniker. “Enter Xenon” is a sprawling, analogue-rich album that blurs the line between chamber pop, kosmische voyages, and neo-baroque prog. Ten tracks (including a Bandcamp-only bonus) that feel less like songs and more like phases of a mind-expanding process. The album kicks off with “The Escape”,  a short intro, a brief, atmospheric prologue that sets the tone with ambient tension and sci-fi undertones. “Winter” has buzzing, wiry guitars that scrape and weave through a surprisingly bouncy rhythm. Mellotron clouds creep over the mix like steam from frozen ground, while synth stabs electrify the transitions. A rolling rhythm section anchors “Opportunity Knocks” – less angular than the track before, with a more open, melodic core, while Curvey’s guitars spiral upward like rising heat! “The Oblivion Capsule” is a weightless, instrumental drift through zero gravity. Echoed guitars and glassy synths shimmer in all directions… The next one has cold tones but a warm soul. On “Icy Tranquility”, a stomping beat and sharp-edged synth meet shimmering post-punk guitar textures. The vocal melody nods to ’60s psych, but the overall mood is more forward-thinking. “Tomorrowland” starts, and tense, agile guitars tiptoe through a landscape of watery synths and delayed pulses. Curvey’s songwriting shines through. There’s charm in the swirl on “Superposition”, a 3-minute track that, in the album’s larger atmosphere, works as a short detour through dissonance. The misty, ambient instrumental “Enter Xenon” is a dreamlike transition into the album’s magnum opus. Ghost tones, distant echoes, and a sense of slow, patient unfolding… The 12-minute “The Floating Chamber” (that closes the vinyl edition) is my highlight of the album! It is the heart and climax of the record. Starting with twitchy energy—twangy guitars, rubbery synths, icy Mellotron—it soon gives way to awe-struck weightlessness. Radio static, glimmering arpeggios, and Floyd-esque (Gilmour to be more precise) leads color this sprawling journey. The percussion is sparse, almost ceremonial. There’s no big explosion, just a dissolving sense of motion… fading into silence like a vision slipping away. Superb… Magnificent… The bonus track “Les Mâchoires de la Mort” (available via Bandcamp) is built on a 3/4 rhythm, it moves with eerie elegance. The atmosphere is dense, almost funereal, but the textures—Mellotron fog, shimmering synths, muted guitar lines—give it a strange, dignified beauty… In conclusion, “Enter Xenon”, has an amazing, masterfully controlled atmosphere. It’s psych that isn’t retro, prog that isn’t pompous, and electronically flavored music that remains deeply organic. Another bold step from Custard Flux, reaffirming Greg Curvey as one of the underground’s most consistently interesting creators. It would be remiss not to mention Greg’s other fellow travelers, so along with Greg (Vox, Guitar, Arp Odyssey Synthesizer, Pro One Synthesizer, Mellotron, Tape Loops) are Vito Greco (Guitar), Timothy Prettyman (Bass Guitar), Nick Pruett (Drum Kit, Percussion), Andy Thompson (Mellotron)… Underground Proggy Psych from Detroit at its Best… Dig… TimeLord Michalis

Tracklist

Listen / Buy through CUSTARD FLUX Bandcamp