Lucid Express’ “Promise Me” is a shimmering all-night grind

Coming from Hong Kong, Lucid Express made their 2021 debut LP in the shadow of the Umbrella Movement, where its radiant glow was meant to lift one another out of the intense sociopolitical climate. The band logged miles during their first North America tour last year (including a stop at Slide Away NYC), and as they return for round two next month, they’ve also expanded their sound.

Their sophomore album, Instant Comfort, out tomorrow, mirrors a group who’ve turned from easygoing to alert, yet still uncovering “beautiful moments of peace amongst difficult times in life,” singer/synth player Kim Ho tells AP. Communicating over a Discord server, it was mixed in marathon late-night sessions between the fivesome in Hong Kong and Kurt Feldman (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart) in Manhattan. From midnight to dawn, the songs were put under a microscope in a shared pursuit to reach “perfection” — resulting in layered, iridescent precision that builds on the ambition of their self-titled.

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Directed by another Hong Kong native, Neo Yeung, and premiering below, their new video for “Promise Me” documents part of those very sessions. Filmed over 24 hours during the 2025 Chinese New Year, Yeung harnesses that foggy grind while interpolating live and candid footage. “This time of year has a special feeling of hope and good spirits, and that carried through to shooting this video,” Ho says. “Of course, by the time 4 a.m. came around, all of us were really starting to feel pretty exhausted.” From the other side of the globe, she gives us a deeper look at the song and second album.

What challenges did you run into while making the “Promise Me” video with Neo Yeung? What was the mood like on set?

This video was actually the first thing we finished for the album and was, coincidentally, shot during Chinese New Year, which just happened again this week. There are a lot of social and familial obligations that come with this time of year, so just managing to get the five of us together was really challenging. That’s why we ended up shooting for so many hours — we really wanted to make the most of the time we had together.

How would you describe Instant Comfort’s statement of intent?

This is a record that finds beautiful moments of peace amongst difficult times in life. Our first album had an easy, youthful sense of hope to it that we don’t quite carry anymore. Instant Comfort knows that hope is still out there — it just has to be fought for.

What was the most satisfying or uplifting moment in making this album?

When Kurt sent us his initial mixes of a couple of the album tracks, we just felt like he immediately “got” us and knew exactly how to bring the most out of our songs. It’s such a comforting feeling to know that something you’ve spent so long on is now in the hands of someone who has the ideas and the skills to make it the best thing it can possibly be.

I read that you mixed the songs with him in marathon late-night sessions to try to achieve perfection. Can you explain what your idea of “perfect” looks like, and did you set any specific rules or goals for yourself to get there?

“Perfect” for us is a collaborative outcome. It’s the result of all five of us developing our parts together to create something uncompromising and pure. When we approach music with the intent to create something “perfect,” we bring open minds to try new sounds and techniques, and we make space to truly reflect on whether these approaches are helping us or hindering us in our quest.

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