Tone Ranger
“Touchstone” / “Over the Moon”
Animalia Music
Tone Ranger, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Alex Simon, releases his latest A/B-sided single, “Touchstone / Over the Moon,” preparing the way for his upcoming album, Confluence, set to release on August 8.
According to Simon, “Both pieces chase the same spark in different worlds. ‘Touchstone’ is the pulse beneath the pines; ‘Over the Moon’ is that heartbeat echoed back by the stars. Together they remind me that wonder is everywhere — under our feet and over our heads.”
Recorded in a mobile studio in Utah’s Canyonlands, every sound on the pair of songs was produced organically, without digital manipulation.
“Touchstone,” featuring the evocative, spectral voice of Melas Leukos, rolls out on descending percussion that segues into a dreamy, shimmering melody highlighted by the bamboo flutes of Mimhoa. The gravitational pull of the syncopated rhythm grounds the tune as a layered, kaleidoscopic soundscape glides, ripples, and sails overhead.
“Over the Moon” travels on a low-slung, pulsating beat juxtaposed against drifting harmonic surfaces that sparkle, warble, and coast. The vocals of Evelyn Drach and Gracey Crane hover deliciously atop gentle guitars and pensive violins, fashioning a beguiling antiphony.
The two songs complement each other, like the two sides of a coin — different yet connected — with “Touchstone” providing a fanciful prelude to the more elegantly textured “Over the Moon.” An elusive impression of past and present hovers between the songs.
Akin to living entities, “Touchstone” and “Over the Moon” convey the ineffable feeling, the summoning softness, of a desert night.
