Arthur Moon – the Brooklyn avant-pop group fronted by Lora-Faye Åshuvud along with collaborators Cale Hawkins (Quincy Jones, Bilal, Wyclef Jean) and Martin D. Fowler (a composer for This American Life) – has released a vinyl exclusive of their self-titled debut album via Vinyl Me, Please. In celebration of the album – out everywhere on August 2 – they’ve shared a stunning video for powerful single “Reverse Conversion Therapy,”premiered on Billboard. Lora-Faye also recently received a prestigious New York Foundation for the Arts grant as part of their Artist Fellowship Program and the band will kick off a tour with Oh Land this fall, after an exuberant hometown Brooklyn show with Palehound this past week.
The video was filmed in the Mojave Desert, with everyone hiking to the top of steep sand dunes to catch the sunrise. It was directed by Zach Stone and Gerard Marcus (director of Thrdcoast), who contrasted the vast wilderness of the Mojave with a flatter, recreated facade built in NYC. As they describe, “These two worlds represent a widening of thought from a constrained artificial representation of life to a life full of freedom and boundless space, shining a light on questions of identity and personal development.” Visual effects shots were done by Phillip Akka, known for his work on Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s “Apeshit” and Thom Yorke’s “Why Can’t We Get Along”. The video features sets by artist Hannah Perry, an illustrator for the New York Times, Vice, Wiredand more, who also created the band’s singles art.
Lora-Faye illustrates the track: “I wanted the verses of this song to evoke the feeling of being at the very top of the big free-fall on a rollercoaster, where you know your stomach is going to fall out from underneath you, but it hasn’t happened yet. That feeling of being right on the precipice of a drastic shift. And then for the choruses to surprise you anyway: As though you went to the amusement park, and waited on line, and strapped in to this rollercoaster, and felt yourself rise slowly up and up, but now once the ride really starts, the rhythm of the drops and spins surprises you–you can never quite anticipate when you’ll next be upside-down, twisted, looking down at the pavement and the people below as if for the first time.”
Catch Arthur Moon on tour with Oh Land & stay tuned for more to come!
Tour Dates w/ Oh Land
9/24: Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House
9/25: Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe
9/26: Washington, DC @ The Miracle Theater
9/27: Chicago, IL @ SPACE
10/20: Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theater
10/21: Portland, OR @ The Church Concert Hall
10/23: San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
10/24: Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater