My new release is “Red Light,” from the Dancing on the Moon EP. The song is about three things: 1) the day I found out that the master tapes of my two bands Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic had burned in the infamous Universal Music fire (the red light of the fire seen from the clouds); 2) my love for recording on tape despite #1 (thus the red light of the title); and 3) my Mom’s memory loss – almost as though her master tapes are being gradually erased. In the video, the ghosts of all these vanishing things are played by a yellow 1971 Ford Mustang and my daughter in a ghost costume in the passenger seat. Hope you love it. Directed by Yazz alali and edited by Sara Mulford. Shout out to Ethan Gruska and Jenny Owen Youngs for writing the song with me, and Ethan and John Mark Nelson for producing it with me.
My new single, “Dancing On The Moon” is out today!
I wrote the chorus at my piano, and it felt like a found object, like something I saw on the sidewalk and picked up. To me, it really does sound like a couple, marooned on a distant moon, trying to make contact with someone – anyone – and dancing under the super-lonely stars.
I’ve loved this Perfume Genius song since the first time I heard it. The more I listened, the more I loved it. When 2021 came to an end, it was one of a handful of songs at the very top of my “most listened” list – up there with “Go Easy, Kid” by Monica Martin and “Doin’ It” by Herbie Hancock. Good company. So I cut a version of it for my “Dancing on the Moon” EP. The EP is out in the fall, but this one is out now! I wish I’d written it myself.
I’m really excited to announce this: The Words + Music in 6 Seconds deck! A compact and beautiful deck of cards, designed to be a creative tool for people in any creative field.
The new Semisonic EP, “You’re Not Alone,” is now out! Being in this band with John Munson and Jake Slichter is an ongoing high point of my musical life. We’ve been all over the world together and we still love to hang out. What more could I ask for? I’m so happy about how these songs turned out. I felt like they HAD TO be great – and now you can be the judge of whether they are :) (Go ahead and let me know if I’m following my own advice or not…) We got a lot of help along the way but special shout out to Jenny Owen Youngs, Mike Viola and Richard Walters for writing some of the songs with me! Stream/buy here.