Formed in 2010, the critically applauded New York-based act The Dig — Emilie Mosseri (vocals, bass), David Baldwin (vocals, guitar), Erick Eiser (keys, guitar) and Mark Demiglio (drums) released two albums and two EPs — 2010’s full-length debut Electric Toys, 2012’s Midnight Flowers and 2013’s Tired Hearts EP and You & I EP. Last, the member of the New York-based act relocated to Los Angeles. and the move managed to spark a major period of transformation for each of the individual bandmembers — with each member pursuing their own creative projects.
Notably, Emilie Mosseri established himself as a film and television composer, who earned widespread acclaim for crafting the score for A24 Films‘ critically applauded Last Black Man in San Francisco, as well as the scores for the TV series Homecoming, which currently stars Janelle Monae and Kajillionaire, which will star Miranda July.
Ironically, working separately proved to have a unifying effect on the band’s individual members — they were emboldened to take new risks, which resulted in a completely new musical project for its longtime collaborators — the newly named Human Love. Black Void EP, Human Love‘s Sonny DiPerri-co-produced, four song debut EP is slated for a July 10, 2020 release, and the effort sees the longtime collaborators completely altering the creative process they were used to through their run as The Dig. “In the past, one person would bring in an idea and we’d build everything from there, but now the process is so much more collaborative, with everyone bringing in their specific perspective to everything we make,” the band’s David Baldwin says in press notes. “I think there’s something beautiful about us going in different directions and then coming back together like this,”EmilIe Mosseri adds “We’re taking what we’d explored on our own and feeding it back into this music, and pushing everything forward to create something completely new.”
Reportedly, Black Void will see the band crafting cinematic material with a pulsating, dance floor friendly energy and a psychedelic vibe — all while revealing the idiosyncratic impulses of each individual member of the band. Last month, I wrote about the This Is Happening-era LCD Soundsystem-like “Goldmine,” a track centered around a sinuous and strutting, disco-influenced groove paired with Baldwin and Mosseri’s ethereal vocals singing surrealistic lyrics. “‘Goldmine’ is the song that inspired us to start Human Love,” the members of the band explain in press notes. “When the four of us are together, one of our favorite things to do is jam on one riff endlessly. To us this song conjures up a feeling of transition. When we first started writing it we were still in our previous band together, and by the time we finished it we had decided to start something new. It has a feeling of leaving something behind. Deciding to move away from what’s comfortable and familiar, and embrace the unknown.”
“Lemon Dove,” Black Void’s second and latest single is trippy song featuring shimmering synth arpeggios, a shuffling four-on-the-floor led motorik groove and ethereal vocals — and while centered around an improvised, free-flowing and summery air, the the song manages to bring Kraftwerk and Evil Heat-era Primal Scream to mind.
“The process of making Lemon Dove was spontaneous,” the band’s Erick Eiser recalls in press notes. “All of the ideas came out fluidly without music second guessing. It’s really exciting to work on music when spontaneity reigns over deliberation. The harmonies and music in the first section of the song were inspired and adapted from a Debussy Prelude and there’s a spirit to the music that connects with the name of the band as a lyric that we found really special. It’s about love. It’s about summer.”