Luna Waves – Half Awake (2024)
A self-described “90s kid”, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rob Muir was raised on a diet of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden; however, his inspirations reach far beyond these grunge and rock bands. Encouraged by his musician and guitar teacher father, Muir explored the sounds of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd. As the years passed, he continued to explore artists like Jeff Buckley, Tame Impala, Wild Nothing and Alice Wolf (to name a few). Immersing himself in a world of music, Rob Muir took the step and pursued a solo career as Luna Waves.
This is not our introduction to Luna Waves after interviewing him in 2022 – a particularly busy year for the UK-based artist. In 2022, he chose to undertake the challenge of releasing two full-length albums in a year; a challenge he achieved with the well-received Blood Moon and Bruised Gold. His latest single ‘Half Awake’ follows the critically acclaimed Bruised Gold.
Sauntering into 2024 with rock-inspired flair, Luna Waves captures the essence of 90s rock in his single ‘Half Awake’. Reminiscent of New Radicals and Radiohead, a veil of grunge drapes across an indie-rock melody tinging the heavy guitars with a shimmer of psychedelic calm. Pounding drums titter beneath the bold guitars and you are ushered across a glittering sonic river with harmonic ripples of rock. Yet, while ‘Half Awake’ is a mellifluous breath of 90s music, its theme has a deeper and more vulnerable touch. Muir explains:
“…the song is about the weird places that the mind can go to when you are unable to sleep and all the memories that drift in and out of your head at 3 am.”
It is true that those “late-night thoughts” can be annoying but mostly insignificant; however, deeper emotions often surface as your brain heads down that mental spiral. Memories of happiness can flutter by reflective despair with a smile-inducing situation tiptoeing behind a wall of doom and gloom – all wrapped in an intricate bubble of vulnerability, frustration, fragility, melancholy and awe-inspiring joy. Oscillating from light to dark with a dream-like loftiness, ‘Half Awake’ encapsulates the true emotion beneath the 3 am thoughts.
For more from Luna Waves, check out his official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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