Wednesday March 11 @ The Drunken Unicorn

Speakeasy presents…

Lucid Express

8pm / $15+ / 21+

Lucid Express singer/synth player Kim Ho has escaped the clogged streets, blinding lights and

noise of central Hong Kong to the region’s northern mountains. Heartbreak and disillusionment

are on her heels.

In these mountains, in sight of both the Chinese border and the international city hub of Central

Hong Kong, Ho finds herself seeking to make sense of exactly who she, and her bandmates,

truly are. The pride they’d felt as teenagers has long since faded. The multicultural progressive

city that they grew up in has shifted staunchly conservative and politically oppressive since

2014, when an outbreak of anti-state protests were countered with beatings,

politically-targeted arrests, and death threats from government officials. Says Ho, “we’ve just

been steadily losing hope for a decade now”.

Their response has been to create their own universe revolving around their studio practice

space nestled in an unassuming industrial district on the edge of the city. “We joke that we

created a ‘scene’ of five people” says guitarist Andy Tsang.

Their upcoming album, Instant Comfort is the sound of a young band who have now traveled

the world, seen what it has to offer, held it for a moment, before watching it slip through their

fingers. While the group’s earliest recordings arrived buoyant on a wave of hopeful

romanticism, this latest outing is more complex; mapping their journey from uncertainty to a

renewed sense of self-reliance. As such, Lucid Express stand more assured than ever before.

Ho’s vocals and synth lines confidently sit on top of expansive interweaving guitar textures

from Tsang and Sky Kung, while brothers Samuel and Wai Chan provide a driving foundation

on bass and drums respectively.

Convening via Discord server, Instant Comfort was mixed in marathon overnight trans-pacific

sessions between the band in Hong Kong and Kurt Feldman (of Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

and Depreciation Guild) in New York City. From midnight through sunrise, the album was

painstakingly shaped by a shared quest to aim for something ‘perfect’. The result sounds unlike

anything Lucid Express have previously released. Significantly more complex and layered, yet

somehow clearer than ever. Ho reflects on hearing the first draft mixes that Feldman sent over

before the overnight sessions, “It was us, but in a way we’ve never been able to capture

ourselves... every part was so present ”.

This sprawling 9-song collection is the embodiment of those stillest nighttime hours. Those

moments amongst the half light where every sound feels amplified, every shadow looms

larger than life, and every emotion dominates one’s thoughts.

Disorienting feelings are embraced in these new songs, which anchor airy melodies with

heaving walls of guitars on tracks like "Promise Me," "Dark Glass," and "Aster." Elsewhere,

the band explores emotional extremes across the sonic spectrum in ways they've rarely

ventured before. "Setback" unleashes swirling feedback and jangling guitars at their most

raucous, the title track ventures into territory as moody and bleak as could still reasonably be

called pop music, and "Faux Sweetness" delivers bright hooks straight out of 90s trip hop.

While only gearing up to release their second full-length album, these five dreamers have

captured glowing reviews for their music, lauded as “kaleidoscopic dream pop” (Under The

Radar), “stellar... shimmery shoegaze jams” (KEXP), and “ethereal” (BrooklynVegan) while the

band have graced prestigious festival slots across Asia and America including Clockenflap,

LEVITATION, and Slide Away 2025.

Instant Comfort, is slated for release on Kanine Records on February 20th, 2026 and follows

their 2021 self-titled album, and the 2022 reissue of their Floret debut EP.