Rusty Santos is announcing a new solo LP, ‘Psycho Horses’, due in early 2026, and shares the first single from it, “Helium Chasms.”
On “Helium Chasms,” an acoustic guitar and a shaker are all the support for Santos’s reverb-drenched vocals on this caustic song about separation. There are a few chords played on electric, as well as a synth bass buried in the mix, and at the very end, a single drum kit smash is repeated and fades out over a delay pedal. The effect is as if Lou Reed joined The Clientele, but the music feels more stripped-down than either of those acts. It’s personal, very big-sounding. This is heartbreaking music to listen to. Santos does not pull any punches.
Rusty Santos’s solo music belongs to a different timeline, one where music moved at its own speed, and artists stand out in contrast to their scenes. His music has often been challenging to listen to. On his new album, for the first time, as an artist, he eclipses his role as producer. Metaphysical lyrics and psych folk textures remain, yet the mood is darker. Here, he is no longer a stranger to the city of Los Angeles, and the work is a conversation with his musical heroes. It’s as art-world-saturated as The Velvet Underground. Like Arthur Russell, he’s in revolt, an outsider amongst the indie pop music of his own time; he sounds like the avant-garde Elliot Smith. Yet, he is all of their artistic cousin, with blood of the same lineage, but walking the alternative path, as these references are only signposts, and his music aims to sound like nobody else.
There are layers of acoustic guitar, backed by minimoog flourishes, drum kits recorded through effect pedals, fuzzy electric bass, and guitar. Still, his presentation of these elements marks a departure point. He performs in alternate tunings, utilizing frequencies that sound unfamiliar. This is an album that could have been recorded in any era, even with the audible influence of acoustic provocateurs like Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen; yet, the DNA is that of indie rock’s golden age. That it might seem familiar is because Santos has worked on seminal music by fellow trailblazers Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Weyes Blood, Black Dice, Dawn of Midi, Owen Pallett, Beach House, Dirty Projectors, DJ Rashad, Gang Gang Dance, and more.
Psycho Horses reveals poetry in the grotesque. These sad songs about isolation, trauma, and betrayal also explore themes of evolution, self-discovery, and ultimately, how ephemeral our time together in this place we call Earth actually is. This scenery may be macabre, but these words are sung by someone who feels cursed by the beauty of the world and is devastated by how determined we are to deny it. On side A, the music transitions from atmospheric to energetic, following a parabolic curve; on side B, the music becomes more precise, and the parabolic curve now descends. Santos’s existential song lyrics guide the listener on their ascent and descent into epistemological oblivion. It is a deceptively short ride, and although this music may be from a different timeline, it belongs to the here and now.
Santos gives more personal context for the album: “This album is my antidote to sleepwalking. I wrote the songs in my dreams and recorded them when I was awake. Now I see a fork in the road. It’s a tuning fork. I left home the day after I graduated from school and arrived at a commune in Washington. I joined a circus and my travels began, on foot across America, and by wing and rail around the world. Since then, I’ve worn many hats while making records and playing shows. Beyond the collective fields of our subconscious minds, I journey towards unity, to the source of all music, where every sound begins and ends in time.”
Featured image by Vice Cooler.
SOURCE: Official Bio
‘Psycho Horses’ Tracklist
- Overlaps
- Floating at sea
- Mysteries on the front page of the news
- Psycho Horses
- Summer will be here soon
- Are you a portal
- Party with Ben
- Helium chasms
- Dark Vistas
- I want for you to feel alright
LINKS:
https://www.rustysantos.com/
https://www.ninaprotocol.com/profiles/ruustysantos
https://www.instagram.com/ruustysantos/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdgandeoahLh0nvOuUmzd-w
https://www.tiktok.com/@ruustysantos