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Dylan Moon Shares Video For “Look” & Releases New Album “Option Explore”

June 21, 2022
 Gabriella Talassazan

Dylan Moon

Shares video for “Look” and releases new album, Option Explore

Los Angeles-based artist, Dylan Moon has released his sophomore record, Option Explore – out via RVNG Intl – and in line with sharing the full collection, has released a video for the track, “Look”. The stunning new record has found acclaim so far from MOJO, Uncut, the Quietus, Aquarium Drunkard, FLOOD and more following his much-loved debut album, Only the Blues (tipped at MOJO, Pitchfork, Uncut, Loud & Quiet, Bandcamp Daily and more).

Sunny and understated, “Look” takes the shape of a warped calypso. It’s flecked with a pulsing choir of samples that hover just outside of immediate recognizability: you often can’t tell if you’re hearing a synthetic panflute, or vocals processed backward. The lyrics are likewise cryptic – “Holding patterns to floral escape” – and excitingly, “Look” provides the moment on Option Explore at which Moon as a vocalist and character can most take center stage, and at which the listener is most able to enjoy it without being called away by a shifting patchwork of heady instrumental programming. As a closing track, it’s a concise and playful palate cleanser: it feels winking and lighthearted, even if we can’t totally understand what the joke is.

Dylan delivers this enchanting exploration, showcasing this vibrant voyage built on insatiable elements and sweeping melodies. Delicate textures emerge with jagged notes, the ethereal vocal harmonies soar amongst the rich attributes. The bold details which flourish throughout the creation hook the audience and keep them fixated on the alluring atmosphere.

Listen to the stunning new album now!

Option Explore is a glassy-eyed survey of pop’s playing field both past and present, and a collection of clever, colorful songs filtered through frequencies, timbres, and dreams discovered and discarded while its maker shifts from one sub-genre to the next. The new album provides a significant departure from the sound of Moon’s debut, Only the Blues, which at its heart is a folk record from the forlorn fringes of psychedelia. Dylan’s 2020 EP, Oh No Oh No Oh No suggested both a shift in his writing and listening habits, culminating with the 2021 compilation Moon’s Toons Vol. 1. On Option Explore, Moon willfully spins multitudes. With a careful study of synthpop, a penchant for warped yet unwavering guitar grooves, and an effortless songwriting ability, he leans into unlikely convergences and arrives at something deeply futuristic in its disregard for genre sanctity.

A guiding principle for Option Explore was the “explore/exploit trade-off” concept, a behavioral mechanism of foraging (“the choice between exploiting a familiar option for a known reward and exploring unfamiliar options for unknown rewards”) which has been employed within computational neuroscience and psychiatry. Moon uses exploratory foraging as a manifesto for song construction: music without end, without limit. Many of these songs avoid conclusive compositional conventions and sound more like turning a radio dial than pressing preset play. Tracks begin at what feels like a midpoint and fade out with little warning, adding to the sensation of sonic melt.

Moon studied electronic production and sound design in music school and found himself drawn to the exactitude of pop production. That purity is distilled on Option Explore to a potent effect: Moon acts as a kind of hyperliterate genre hijacker, pulling from Scritti Politti’s sophisti-pop aesthetic, Buddy Holly’s textbook chord progressions, and J Dilla’s scrappy architecture. But Moon chooses not to scaffold these reference points into formulaic songs, instead reassembling fragments from each as subconsciously recognizable moments. Option Explore is bricolage, never pastiche.

Dylan Moon’s Option Explore will be released by RVNG Intl. on June 17 on vinyl and digital formats. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Downtown Women’s Center, the only organization in Los Angeles focused exclusively on ending women’s homelessness through housing, wellness, employment and advocacy.

Dylan Moon
Option Explore
June 17, 2022
via RVNG Intl.

1. 10 Apples
2. Spandex Simple
3. Creaking
4. Plot Points
5. Deep Time
6. Hmm
7. Understand
8. I-80
9. Fortuna
10. Again
11. Dröm
12. Look
13. Hello Mirage

https://dylanmoon.bandcamp.com/

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