Thrifting with Lunar June
By Miriam Kimvangu
Looking at the cover of her newly released EP, jaded/faded, the marriage between vintage clothing and music perfectly portrays the kind of artist that Lunar June is.
Growing up in London, Lunar June aka Olivia Judd saw vintage and thrift fashion as a way to figure out and craft her style. This same theme runs through her music with some of her inspirations including London Grammar, Lorde, the Japanese House and more which is a world away from where she started. In her growing years, Olivia played in orchestra and jazz bands and while her current music is completely different, she does think that it had an indirect effect on the music she makes now. “It gave me such an appreciation for how all the parts fit together and how to give space to different parts and how to tell a story through music,” she said.
Olivia released her EP, jaded/faded on April 13th and with a title that’s interesting, it’s easy to assume the music within it was based on the title. However, it only came after the project was already in motion. In the midst of writing and rewriting songs for the project, Olivia realised that there was a running theme throughout and that in two songs specifically, she had written similar lyrics.
As mentioned earlier, there are notable influences behind the sound of Lunar June, however she has been able to create her own distinct colour in the dance pop/indie space. She is confident in where she is and where she’s going as far as who she could support in the future or who she can be on curated playlists with, yet she is still distinctly Lunar June. While she wouldn’t be called genreless, she is at a place where she is existing in different lanes while keeping the essence of her artistry. “I’m really discovering what I like and don’t like, so I think while I do fit into a bubble, there are a lot of [sub-genres] within that.”
Although she wrote all the songs on the EP, Olivia worked with producer LUKE MARSDEN. He was an integral part in putting jaded/faded together and she describes their partnership as “giving him the canvas with the sketches and he put colour into and and really took it from the bare bones to a really luscious-sounding song.” They attended the same university and it was Luke who initially approached Olivia but it took her getting to a stage of not only making her own music but also looking to rebrand, that they would finally end up working together and it just worked.
As an artist who started off working on her own, Olivia realised she didn’t have the level of skill in terms of production to take her music to where she wanted it to be. This began the personal journey of opening herself up to working with other people so she can focus more on the songwriting aspect of her music. “Why would I not work with someone who has dedicated so much time and energy to that skill?”, she said. Prior to working with Luke, she found herself in spaces where she felt like she wasn’t heard or even didn’t know enough to fully assert herself. When they ended up working together in a space where it was as equally collaborative as it was honest, it opened her up to the thought of future collaborative sessions.
jaded/faded serves a snapshot of time into Olivia’s life at a time where she was trying figure out where to go next after graduating university, ending one and then starting another relationship, lockdown and the perfect storm that was everything in her life at the time. It is an EP right in time for the summer, laced with nostalgia and perfect with a cocktail.
jaded/faded by Lunar June can be found on all streaming platforms and for any news on her future releases, her handle is @iamlunarjune on Instagram.
Special thanks to COW Vintage (Covent Garden) for letting us shoot in their store.
CREDITS:
Photographer: Miriam Kimvangu