Sunlit - Sunlit

Release date: 6/14/2024

Limited Edition of 300 black vinyl LP with download.

TRACKLIST: 01 Someone So Beautiful  02 I Won't Let You Go  03 Break My Heart 04 Back  05 Glorious Isolation  06 Deep Impression 07 Jasmine  08 1985  09 Teenager  10 Don't Cry Tonight

Joe Moore continues showing off his unprecedented creative activity. The amount and diversity of the albums he has released and produced for Elefant Records since 2011 is unparalleled. Everything started with THE YEARNING’s “Jukebox Romance” (2012), full of delicacy and painstaking artwork in marvelous chamber pop, reminiscent of those girl groups from the 50s. Since then, he has made music with Lia Pamina; he has produced R’n’B and electronic pop for Maddie Mae; and he has written eighties-style Italo Disco and europop with Cristina Quesada. He has also collaborated with Julie Big (ex-singer from LE SUPERHOMARD) on the Julie Et Joe project, with which he paid a well-deserved tribute to 80s French pop (ELLI ET JACNO, LIO, MIKADO…). He explored electronic pop with Holly Vanags under the name THE PERFECT KISS, and, together with Luci Ashbourne, paid tribute to ABBA, to disco music, and 70s pop in general on his last album with THE YEARNING. And after having visited all these different territories, he’s back with a dream-pop, shoegazing, folk-pop album with certain crooner touches, where melodic elegance, the most profound relaxation, and romanticism are all back in full force. This new delicacy, a heartbreaking gem that will fill you with joy, is being released under the name SUNLIT, and it is new proof that there is no musical ground that Joe Moore can’t inhabit, with marvelous creativity and tremendous results.

Joe steps into a new space that he has never entered before, and this time he sings the songs himself. Swimming through seas of dream pop, influenced by groups like COCTEAU TWINS, Julee Cruise, Chris Isaak, THE STONE ROSES, Lee Hazlewood, ALVVAYS, BEACH HOUSE and COWBOYS JUNKIES, Joe Moore gives us something beautiful and captivating that is characterized by the austerity of its arrangements, exactly the opposite of THE YEARNING, and the perfection of the melodies. He takes on all the vocals, and with a few guitars, bass, drums, and the occasional keyboard, he fills songs that take us to a place somewhere between Richard Hawley and MAZZY STAR. A place where sadness is beauty, where tears are sweet, where self-compassion is an exercise in reconstruction.

Our eyes light up and our hearts are warmed with songs like “Someone So Beautiful”, “1985” and “I Won’t Let You Go”. The incredible “Break My Heart” talks about the challenge of always loving someone, no matter what they do, while “Back” (which sounds like something taken off the soundtrack from the cult classic “Twin Peaks”) talks about regret, and the desire to escape to the past. Nocturnal spirits run through “Glorious Isolation”, as Joe himself explains, it’s the moment in “West Side Story” when Tony sees Maria. “Teenager”, which explores the feeling of young love, hits a switch that evokes CIGARETTES AFTER SEX, and here the arrangements shine brightly to show off beauty by contrast, dynamic, surprising us like an unexpected first kiss. And to top things off, it works as a bridge between various exercises in musical exploration, bringing us a more contemporary version of the dry, hyper-melodic Italo Disco of SAVAGE ‘s “Don’t Cry Tonight” and taking it to the province of melancholy, and it works as if it had been written to be played this way. Marvelous.

In the end, we get the feeling that this is a more personal body of work, where all the songs are full of meaning, and all the lyrics are directly influenced by the life of our protagonist, where all emotions are right on the surface. It is absolutely incredible how Joe Moore transits between styles, with prowess, inspiration and absolutely extraordinary execution. Is it because he’s a genius? What really matters is that he keeps releasing albums like this “Sunlit”.