Spotlight: Half Moon Bay
By Justine Hooks | Dec. 2nd 2019
HALF MOON BAY'S MUSIC IS UNDENIABLY UNIQUE. As a result of writing, producing, mixing and mastering most of his work, the young artist has established a sound entirely his own, which is dark, spacey, ethereal, lush and layered all at once—full of beautiful juxtapositions. On his recently released debut EP (( koi )), the artist masters the balance between these seemingly conflicting sounds to create a mesmerizing, cosmic sonic landscape. Lyrically, the project is diverse, exploring topics such as intimacy, self-reflection, growth and even climate change. (( koi )) is a great introduction to Half Moon Bay’s artistry, and a taste of what’s to come in his continuing creative evolution.
Half Moon Bay, who goes by Med in his daily life, was always creative growing up. He attended a performing arts high school, where he was trained in classical music and jazz, but ultimately decided he wanted to pave a different musical path for himself. By the time he entered college at the University of Southern California, Moon had begun his journey of creating music. “I started making music probably senior year of high school, learning how to use Logic to produce. I was kind of on it, but not really. But then once I got to college, I met other artists here, and they were doing it. I was like, ‘I’ve got to really speed it up.’” Inspired by his peers, Half Moon Bay (then working under the name Black Freckles) began developing his own production style. “Something was very empowering about that…because it meant that I get to play around and discover new things. And I feel like that’s such an instrumental part of the Half Moon Bay sound now. The mix is definitely another production element, and I feel like I’m making inventions with my music.”
Unsurprisingly, Half Moon Bay is inspired by other inventive artists who create entire worlds through their music, such as Travis Scott and FKA Twigs. He also takes inspiration from artists who imbue healing power into their music, like Jhené Aiko. In his own work, Moon often explores themes of introspection, sensuality, healing, and duality.
These themes, as well as Moon’s innovative approach to sound, can be heard all over his new EP (( koi )), an 8 track journey into the world of Half Moon Bay. The project feels like the sonic embodiment of the colors on its cover art—deep, hazy jewel tones of red, green and blue. Moon has a great eye for fashion, visuals and color, (just watch the video for his song “HAZE”), and he brings these elements into his music creation process. “Aesthetics definitely play a part. It took me minute to learn that too, how much they play a part in what I’m creating sonically. But I feel like it just makes sense, because with pretty much everything you want to build a whole experience.”
The transportive sound that Half Moon Bay creates is certainly an experience, and this has been his intention since the beginning of his music career. “I didn’t know exactly what it would sound like—obviously you can’t—but I did know that I wanted my bass to hit how it does. I did know I wanted the colors to feel pretty dark, but not feel sad. (I went through a period of making hella sad music too), but yeah, I knew I wanted the colors to feel how they do. I knew I wanted it to sound almost metallic and futuristic at the same time, but still laidback, and hard-hitting. I definitely knew I wanted all these paradoxes.”
One particularly inspiring moment for Moon in the development of his artistic image was his first trip to Half Moon Bay, California, his current namesake. Perviously he had gone by Black Freckles, but he eventually decided to capture the beauty of the Northern California town in his name. “Everything about it was so beautiful. It’s this town with beautiful restaurants, beautiful people, and the whole thing is just so misty. You can’t even see very far ahead of you, but everything you can see is so gorgeous. When I wanted to make that evolution happen, I wanted it to be something that’s that beautiful.”
Half Moon Bay has many goals for the future of his career, including creating his own anime series, but right now he is also striving to be a more balanced person in his daily life. “Music plays a big role in my personal journey. I’m learning to not let it play as big of a role as I’ve let it.” Outside of music, “I’m working on understanding and experiencing myself in many different ways and many spaces at this point in my life, and I’m proud about that…I’m trying to be like ‘Hi, my name is Med, I travel, and I have an expanded taste palette, and I experience new things, and I go to places to watch the moon rise. That’s what I’m working on now, more-so experiencing myself in new ways.”
No doubt, this personal growth will only add to the beauty of Half Moon Bay’s music going forward. This is only the beginning for the young creative, and with his innovative spirit, talent, and genuine, kind character, his future surely holds big things.
