"Now and Then" double CD/album by The Candy Strypers - Out Now
Release bio
Paul Hughes (aka The Candy Strypers) released an eponymous EP on the short-lived Manic Pop! Records label that helped gift notable jangle-pop-inspired/adjacent acts such as the Star Tropics, Mini Dresses, Gorgeous Bully, and Zebra Hunt to the world.
Soon after this noteworthy start, that irritating little thing called 'life' hoisted a career, a relationship, children, and that dreaded sense of 'real adulting' that can screech a solid handbrake on the best of intentions and he stopped writing/performing.
However, Paul's need to write music proved too strong, and after an 8+ year hiatus, he returned with his glorious aesthetic that sifts through modern lo-fi pop, hazy The Beatles vibes, and 60s melodic before wrapping them in the sort of jangled riffs that resonate and chime with beautiful lucidity.
This double album/CD offers the best of his music from both sides of his hiatus, with his most recent 'Now' tracks (CD1, tracks 1–14) backed by his 'Then' sounds of yesteryear (CD2, tracks 15–26), in a release that exposes one of guitar pop's best-kept secrets.
