Olivier Cornu’s Moon Construction Kit has been steadily flourishing into something with a very distinct identity since the 2022 debut EP – a Lausanne-based solo project operating at the intersection of psychedelic pop, indie folk, and what he calls “Sunshine-Psych.” The reference points he names for “Down the West Coast” are specific: the Beach Boys between 1967 and 1971, that baroque, orchestrated period rather than the surf pop era. Jazz-tinged woodwinds, chamber-pop arrangements, and vocal harmonies stacked with intention. It’s a deliberate excavation of a very particular sound, and it’s out June 12th.
Harmonically, “Down the West Coast” is one of the most luscious and gorgeous songs I’ve listened to in a while, and it’s a testament to Moon Construction Kit‘s talent and diversity that they’re able to create such a beautiful vista of sound with a bright sheen of hope that is completely different from songs we’ve heard from them before, like “Chemicals”. I can confidently say that Moon Construction Kit‘s usage of layers to create a truly psychedelic soundscape is masterful and is only getting better with each release.
The arc of the song itself mirrors that ambition – it builds steadily from a hum of distant guitars and soft flutes into a tidal wave of layered instrumentation before stripping back to where it started, which is exactly the kind of structural confidence that separates studied psych-pop from mere pastiche. For a solo project, the production scale here is genuinely impressive. If this is the direction the new chapter of Moon Construction Kit is headed, the next body of work is worth watching closely.
