Dylan Moon

Gorgeous debut LP of dream-fazed acoustic pop by Los Angeles-based musician. ★★★★ Only The Blues RVNG INTL. DL/LP This album arrived with no infomation and I couldn’t place or date it. Early Noughties Elliott Smith compatriot? Post-Syd mid-’90s Bristol psych? Obscure offshoot from Denver’s Elephant 6 collective? None of the above. A former sound design student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Moon recorded this debut between 2017 and 2019 in soundproofed, claustrophobic bedrooms between LA and Boston. Working with a patchwork of ancient drum machines and hazy guitar effects, the singer has constructed 14 intricate, hallucinatory poems, tiny sibylline spiders’ webs shot through with late summer light. Barely anchored by Moon’s frayed vocals, almost every number floats, billows and pulses, dancing free from meaning. Significantly, one comes into clear focus. It’s called Song For Jerry, and it’s the sound of Moon asking the Grateful Dead’s late vocalist for guidance on this new psychedelic trip he is charting. Andrew Male