Feature: Luma Fade Decodes ‘Lunar Decay’
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives in 'Lunar Decay?'
It's basically a concept album about each generation facing their version of "the end of the world". I started writing this album when we first hit the pandemic lockdown in my area. They called it a shelter-in-place, which I thought was kind of stupid but I guess telling people they are in lockdown makes them feel like they are in prison maybe. It seemed like everyone was trying to figure out if this was the end of the world or just a bunch of hype and I could see that though people really wanted some form of normalcy (aka - "the new normal") we were really a pretty adaptable society. The fact so many countries shut down like that and just stopped what they were doing and then bounced back really spoke to our adaptability. That's when I knew I wanted to write an album where each song represented a different generation facing a dilemma like that, where it seemed like the sun was setting on their civilization and they suffered loss and tragedy but perhaps survived, or perhaps not.
What has been one of your most favorite memories along the path to making 'Lunar Decay?'
It took me two years to really finish recording this. I think all the fun memories were at the beginning! When I first got inspired to do this, I hadn't tried to make music for years. But one night it really captivated me and I couldn't sleep. I was restless and I felt compelled to go outside (it was like 2am) and there was a full-moon and I just remember looking up at it and thinking, it's fitting... I'm a lunatic. Full-moons get people's blood riled up for some reason. I felt compelled at that moment to act. I took out my iPhone and opened garageband on it for the first time and started playing around. At about 5am, I had a basic song structure. I knew I couldn't really finish it on my phone and I didn't really have a music recording set-up so the next day I ordered a mac-mini with Logic Pro and committed to recording the album, ‘Lunar Decay.’
What is your personal favorite song from 'Lunar Decay' and why?
Oh, probably Monsoon Morning, because it is the fastest song and just feels fun to me. There is this part I didn't have any lyrics for and didn't really have a melody so I just started talking over it on one of the takes and that ended staying in. It was raining heavily at the time and there was lots of thunder during the take so I thought I should probably abort but then I just started mumbling and talking and I said something like, "Rainy days are a GO!..." and that line and take stayed in the song.
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
Somehow this question makes me feel conflicted. I included a whole bonus booklet with the vinyl release that has art, poems, and stories for each track so maybe I'm pushing too much on the audience with that. Some artists say things like, "You know, it's just whatever you take away from it and is personally meaningful to you." but I'm kind of doing the opposite by explaining exactly what the songs are about in detail. I think I probably do that because when I go to sing the lyrics, I can only fit a fraction of them into the melody and then I think, well, I skipped 5 lines there cause there wasn't room and now I wonder how anyone is supposed to make sense of this. I probably should let the audience read between the lines more but also, I'm just not that skilled at story-telling with songs yet, so I guess for this LP, I decided it needed a primer. But yeah, the answer is, get the vinyl with the bonus booklet and that will tell you exactly what the music is about in vivid detail. BTW, you can also download a full preview pdf of the booklet here: Booklet
Are there any particular skills or techniques that you have been working on lately?
Yes! So when I decided to make this album, I knew I wanted it to be somewhere in the alternative rock spectrum but I was super-rusty at actually playing guitar. I hadn't picked one up in years though I had once played as a bass guitarist in a punk band when I was in my teens. So I improvised and did everything electronically. For instance I made guitar solos using a keyboard and then ran them through distortion, reverb, tremolo, etc to make it sound like guitar. Despite the guitar rock sound of the album, there is not one guitar on it! But after I finished I felt like I kind of cheated myself. I mean I learned a lot but I also felt like I owed it to myself to be able to try to play these songs on an actual guitar. So I bought one and started playing again recently. I've been playing daily and I think on the next album, it'll have real guitar!