Spacemoth’s “Telepathic Butterflies” Is Cosmic Pop Built in the Back of a Van

Maryam Qudus wrote most of Inward Eye in the back of a tour van, staring out the window with a tiny synthesizer in her lap. As an engineer and producer at Oakland’s Tiny Telephone Recording, she’d spent the years between Spacemoth albums working with Toro y Moi, Spellling, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, and La Luz — whose News of the Universe LP she produced in 2024. All those miles on the road turned out to be the creative catalyst she needed. She started looking forward to the longer drives.

“Telepathic Butterflies” is the latest single and a strong example of what makes Inward Eye tick — tightly interlocked loops of rhythm and texture that build and dissolve with a quiet purposefulness, like watching the same moment of light repeat at slightly different angles. The video synthesis is by Beau Sorenson, shot and edited by Qudus herself. The album draws on Can, Tortoise, Stereolab, Kraftwerk, and Cluster, but what comes out is distinctly her own — emotionally open, precisely constructed, and genuinely cosmic.

Inward Eye arrives June 26 on Greenway Records. Spacemoth celebrates with a San Francisco album release show on July 24, then heads out on a West Coast run supporting La Luz through August. Pre-order below.

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