Written over the past year, Man of the Dunes is a consuming concept EP from Archie Valentine, a solo artist living in London. Aesthetically featuring a lush, jangly vein of dreamy rock, the release is accompanied by a well-crafted short film. The sequel to 2018 track “Slumped,” the visual features the artist traversing across a variety of landscapes, from metropolitan Japan to a spacious desert, accompanied at points by an (unfaithful) blow-up companion. “DRONEBABY” is among the release’s most immediate success, with its jangle-pop appeal becoming apparent early. The more contemplative, hypnotic “Mr Blue” crafts an intoxicating moon, full of starry-eyed yearning. The video above is fully recommended. Stream the EP on Spotify here.
—
“Mr Blue” and other memorable tracks from this month can also be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of April 2020’ Spotify playlist.
The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Emerging Dream-Pop.
