Luna Shadows is an artist, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist creating alternative pop with a dark melancholy and a California twist. She takes a completely DIY approach to her music and oversees and executes the audio and visual for her projects from beginning to end. She loves juxtaposition and the concept of contrast applied musically and visually – dark and light subjects next to one another, generating a more dramatic interaction side by side. Most recently, she has been working with Brad Hale of Now, Now and Thom Powers of The Naked and Famous who co-produced her catchy new song “lower case” (LISTEN).
Luna Shadows also has eclectic taste in music and recently she offered to put together a summer playlist for Glide, showcasing some of her favorite acts while sharing her own commentary on each track.
“Swimmers” – Broken Social Scene
This song has travelled many summers with me all over the world for the past decade. Makes me want to roll down the windows and smell the humid summer air. And of course the title makes me want to run straight to the beach.
“Young Blood” – The Naked & Famous
This song is the quintessential nostalgia song of the summer. It sounds like every summer love you’ve ever had and lost vacuum-packed into four minutes. I was separated from my group at Coachella in 2014 and danced to this song alone, and a few months later I befriended the band at a taco night in LA – the guitarist/producer is now my co-producer. I had the privilege of co-producing the acoustic version of this song last year on their stripped down record “A Still Heart,” and then I got to join the band to tour this song all last summer in the US, Europe, and the UK.
“Ribs” – Lorde
This one has a nostalgic summer aftertaste to me. I love its minimalism, conversational lyrics, and emotional subtly. It’s the kind of song that could loop perfectly for a long summer road trip. Although, maybe it’s just me who puts the same song on loop for 3 hours.
“White Trashing” – Nicole Dollanganger
An unexpected summer song for a different kind of summer. I’ve spent the last few Decembers in New Zealand during Christmastime, and with opposite seasons, it’s summer there at this time. This artist came on their alternative station and I was completely blown away – this record is one of my favorites of the last few years, and it always makes me think of driving around the pastures in a New Zealand summer.
“California” – Grimes
This is the kind of song that you should legally be obliged to blast outside your windows in the summer. Extra fine if you don’t dance around like a fool.
“Mythological Beauty” – Big Thief
For some reason, this song reminds me of sleepaway camp in the summer. It has an innocence and softness to it that takes me back to summers spent away from home. It isn’t about that at all, but that’s the feeling I get. I think that’s what’s cool about art – you can make it your own. I’ve read that this song is about compassion, sacrifice, and humility. When she sings, “you’re all caught up inside, but you know the way…” I get the chills.
“Fourth of July” – Sufjan Stevens
I love when song titles are not what they seem. “Fourth of July” sounds so celebratory, like a sky filled with fireworks. This is a new spin on summer entirely. The actual song doesn’t really have anything to do with summer, but still, we stand a depressing summer anthem.
“New York” – St. Vincent
For some reason, when I envision my hometown of NYC in this song, it’s always in summer in my mind – hot, humid subways, piles of garbage stacked up on the sidewalk, and people bustling outside on the street. The traditional NYC songs tend to have Christmas/winter slant to them. St. Vincent brings me to summer in the city in a way I can’t quite describe. Also, I’m including this because I am desperate for her attention.
“Radio” – Lana del Rey
A quintessential feel-good summer song and a huge inspiration to me as an artist. No further explanation needed for the queen of the summer – the song speaks for itself.
“Kim & Jessie” – M83
I was listening to this song on a tour bus in Europe a few summers ago, and I am committed to spreading the rumor that the chorus lyrics are actually, “somebody loves Luna Shadows.” This song brings me right back to driving around Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, and England on a tour bus in the middle of summer downpours.
“The House That Heaven Built” – Japandroids
This is a song that takes me right back to the exact time and place when I had it on loop. I spent the summer of 2014 listening to this song on repeat, driving around LA at crazy hours of the night. I was going through a transitional time, and I used to just start driving, literally anywhere. I would drive from downtown to the water and then back again. Soul searching in some ways, I suppose! This was the same summer I started writing music for this project. There’s a line in it which holds deep significance to me for that very reason: “when they love you and they will, tell ‘em all they’ll love in my shadow.”
