dawn / dusk (Vinyl)
Following the release of her ‘dawn’ EP earlier this year, mxmtoon is back with ‘dusk’, the second EP of 2020 from the Oakland-raised, Brooklyn-based artist known as Maia. Both will now be released on vinyl for the first time.
If ‘dawn’ from earlier this year drew from the gentle optimism and hope found in a gorgeous sunrise, dusk is a beautiful exploration of the other side of the emotional duality that is the human experience. At once recalling mxmtoon’s earlier work while also expanding her sonic horizons more than ever before, ‘dusk’ is an exciting new direction suggesting that the sky is truly the limit for Maia’s artistry.
The world’s changed a lot since dawn was released, and so has mxmtoon’s life. She recently turned 20 years old and, along with continuing to work on music, has dove headlong into the digital world by using her voice as an activist through social media platforms like TikTok, Twitch, and Discord.
From political explainer videos to charity stream sessions, Maia has been doing more than her best to, as she puts it, “keep some sort of normalcy amongst the chaos. These platforms are a way to connect and have conversations with people in a world where I don’t get to see them face-to-face for a while. It’s made me closer with my audience as a result.”
dusk finds Maia continuing to explore who she is within that world around her—zooming in to moments of solitude and down time, documenting the downs that come after the ups. Joining her is an impressive list of collaborators ranging from Carly Rae Jepsen, to Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus, who produced several tracks on dusk. “It was heavily influenced by my own desire to work with strong female producers and artists,” Maia states regarding the creative process behind the EP. “Getting the opportunity to work with so many incredibly talented minds was such a privilege during this project. My hope for any art I make is to lift up and involve the voices of other women, and dusk is no exception.”
