Like a lot of young people, Justin Fernandez, best known as J. Fernandez relocated to Chicago for a job with Rand McNally during the early 2000s, and during that period he spent a number of years playing in his friends’ various musical projects while working on his own material in a very rudimentary home studio including his debut EP, Olympic Village and its follow-up No Luck, which earned comparisons to Stereolab, Robyn Hitchcock and Syd Barrett. 

Fernandez’s third and latest effort, Memorize Now reportedly extends and refines the self-described retro-futuristic pop ideas of his previous effort while being recorded in his bedroom. Also, much like the previous recordings Fernandez plays the majority of the instruments. And interestingly enough, “Cosmic Was,” manage to sound as though it could have been released in 1964 or so, as it accurately captures a very specific sound of that era with a subtle nods to Sy Barrett-era Pink Floyd psychedelia – and it does so without sounding like a soulless carbon copy.