Anyone with affection for treasure of a particularly luminous dream-pop vintage will know about Joe Cassidy and his alias Butterfly Child. Having recorded three albums and a handful of EPs in the '90s, Cassidy returned in 2012 with the No Longer Living In Your Shadow 7". Now, the first Butterfly Child album since 1998 is here. Futures is a radiant 54-minute journey invested with Cassidy's usual melodic richness -- both musical and vocal -- and a more widescreen production, though the album was recorded at Cassidy's LA home. Sonically, the album lives somewhere between The Beach Boys and dream pop, but with a much more direct emotional impact, between bliss and melancholy. It combines new songs with previously unreleased older material, reaching as far back as Cassidy's very first demos as a teenager. The lush, sun-dappled climes of LA can be felt in the expansive folds and grooves of Futures, both on the softer, heartache-y side and on pop-centric songs such as "A Shot in the Dark" and "Holding On." "Holding On" was inspired by a string loop that Guy Sirman of Dell'Orso Records sent to Cassidy, which reminded him of Dionne Warwick, though the eventual track was inspired by Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell. This being LA, Cassidy could call on his pals Justin, James, and Christiaan, Webb's three sons, to add backing vocals, while Campbell's son Cal plays guitar and percussion. The track also features drummer Matt Walker (also on "A Shot in the Dark") and keyboardist Brian Liesegang. Other Futures guests are Ryan J Rapsys of Euphone (drums), Pendle Poucher (a Butterfly Child accomplice back in the '90s, on "glitch" guitar), Merritt Lear (another Butterfly Child accomplice, and Assassins co-singer, on violin and backing vocals), and Oliver Kraus (strings and horns on the exquisite finale "Beauty #2"). The album is released in advance of a single featuring a remix of "A Shot in the Dark" by Assassins producer Stephen Hague (also of Pet Shop Boys and New Order fame). "All I can do is hope that people out there are into slow heartache music, and will get it!" says Cassidy. Having waited since 1998, Cassidy might only wait another year for the next album: "I told Guy, I have a great Phil Spector-style pop record here! There's little point in repeating myself."