††† (CROSSES) — DEFTONES frontman Chino Moreno‘s project with FAR guitarist Shaun Lopez — will release its sophomore album, “Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.”, on October 13 via Warner. The follow-up to ††† (CROSSES)’s 2014 self-titled album will feature guest appearances by THE CURE vocalist Robert Smith and El-P of RUN THE JEWELS.
“When we started working on ‘Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.’, there was so much more light coming in my life, for numerous reasons,” Moreno said in a press release. “There’s a lot more optimism. Even the darker themes are more romanticized and not coming from a place of despair.”
††† (CROSSES) has released the official music video for the LP’s first single, “Invisible Hand”, directed by Lopez and Lorenzo Carrera. Watch it below.
“Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.” track listing:
01. Pleasure
02. Invisible Hand
03. Found
04. Light As A Feather
05. Pulseplagg
06. Runner
07. Big Youth (feat. El-P)
08. End Youth (Reprise)
09. Last Rites
10. Ghost Ride
11. Grace
12. Eraser
13. Natural Selection
14. Girls Float † Boys Cry (feat. Robert Smith)
15. Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.
††† (CROSSES) has also announced the following live appearances:
Nov. 13 – Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Nov. 14 – Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Nov. 18 – Huntington Beach, CA – Darker Waves Festival
Nov. 28 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere
Dec. 04 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
††† (CROSSES) issued its self-titled debut in 2014. Last year, the duo released the six-song “Permanent.Radiant” EP, which was later made available as a remixed version with reworked songs courtesy of Hudson Mohawke, Machinedrum, Suicideyear and Away.
In December 2021, Lopez confirmed that ††† (CROSSES) had signed a new deal with Warner Records. That same month, ††† (CROSSES) dropped its cover of Q Lazzarus‘s “Goodbye Horses” as a digital single. The track was previously covered by ††† (CROSSES) back in 2014.
Prior to “Goodbye Horses”‘ digital arrival, ††† (CROSSES)‘s last release was a cover of “The Beginning Of The End” by ’90s electropop band CAUSE & EFFECT. Made available in December 2020, it was the first new music from the alternative band since its 2014-released, self-titled record.
Moreno told The Pulse Of Radio how he got involved with the group in the first place, which was started by Lopez and Chuck Doom. “Shaun and Chuck were working together for a while before I came into the picture, and I just so happened to come in one day,” he said. “These guys were, you know, writing some stuff and I heard it and I liked it right off the bat, and I sort of weaseled my way [Laughs] into the project. I think their idea was to get a bunch of different singers to, you know, just write different tracks, and… it didn’t happen.”
††† (CROSSES)’s CD included the songs from the band’s two previously released EPs along with five new tracks.
Moreno told Rolling Stone about ††† (CROSSES)’ sound: “By listening to the music, you can tell that a lot of the influences come from the new-wave era. That was basically the scene that I came up on. I just happened to wind up in a metal band when I was 15.”
Asked about ††† (CROSSES)’s heavy use of the cross in the band’s imagery and songtitles, Moreno said: “I think a lot of bands are influenced by religious symbolism and not even necessarily Christianity or Catholicism. Our band definitely doesn’t follow any of those. It’s more of the aesthetic. The art, the way it works. The initial name of the band was going to be HOLY GHOST. But at the last minute, another band came out with the name, so Shaun suggested CROSSES. It’s a very strong symbol. Three crosses is great. It’s great to look at, there’s three of us in the band.”
††† (CROSSES) made its live debut in January 2012 at The Glass House in Pomona, California.