San Tropez Drift Into Hazy Reverie on "Baby Bells"

Credit: Lakehouse Studio

Six years after Ralph Nicastro started sketching demos in isolation, San Tropez have crystallized into something approaching dream pop perfection. "Baby Bells," the second single from their forthcoming Museum of Modern History, finds the New Jersey quintet operating at the intersection of memory and melody, where every guitar shimmer feels like sunlight filtering through gauze.

The track embodies what Nicastro calls "bottled nostalgia"—a synth-pop anthem drowning in reverb that manages to feel both weightless and emotionally anchored. It's the sound of San Tropez fully inhabiting the sonic territory they've been mapping since their 2023 debut Maybe Tomorrow, pushing their "American dream pop" into more cinematic terrain without losing the intimate core that makes their music stick.

Recorded again at Lakehouse Studios in Asbury Park, Museum of Modern History benefits from strategic guest appearances—Screaming Females' Marissa Paternoster, saxophonist Zack Sandler, and The Slow Circuit's Victoria Benesch all add subtle textures to the band's expanding palette. But "Baby Bells" succeeds precisely because it doesn't need the bells and whistles; San Tropez have learned that sometimes the most powerful statement is a whisper wrapped in atmosphere.

What started as a Facebook post about a Guild Starfire bass has evolved into something that honors the shoegaze lineage while carving out distinctly American space. "Baby Bells" doesn't just reference My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive—it processes their influence through the lens of endless highways and fading Polaroids, creating mood music for the existentially restless.

Museum of Modern History arrives via Mint 400 Records this fall.