VIDEO PREMIERE

Moon Mullins - Candlewood Lake

By Charley Ruddell

Remember that one summer? That one beautiful day at your uncle’s lake house where you went tubing and ate chicken fingers from a local food shack? And you felt the sublime connection of friendship enveloped by the summer sun? Do you remember that? Can you even? 

While it seems impossible to recall anything preceding March 2020, New York experimental producer Sean Mullins, also known as Moon Mullins, aims to jog your memory with “Candlewood Lake,” the lead single from his upcoming album Goes Swimming, out via Atlantic Rhythms April 10. Accompanied by a charming stop-motion collage video by Renata Zeiguer, Mullins’ instrumental morceau feels warmly reminiscent, like unearthing a dusty box of old photos from the attic, but with the soft, numbing touch of nostalgic recollection: will there ever be times as joyous and pure as these? 

Behind the sub-aquatic synths and casio claves in “Candlewood Lake”—sounds that feel imported from a Harvest Moon soundtrack—is a series of lolling, yet distinguished harmonic movements that progress at a stroll. Paired with the lofi affability of Mullins’ bedroom production, “Candlewood Lake” yields a baroquian experiment as delightful and obscure as Arthur Russell at his most keyboard-iest. 

Parallel to the video for Ian Davis: Rock Band’s “Who You Say You Are,” Zeiguer uses vintage cut out photos and earnest stop-motion techniques to tell a story. Inspired by Mullins’ summer trips to Candlewood Lake in Connecticut as a child, Zeiguer features a group of lizards to paint the pictures—deck chair lounging, boat rides and frozen drinks, the pristine blue sky overlooking rolling hills. The beauty of the song and video lies in their simplicity; memories so fond and precious never need to be overstated for others to relate.