Q&A: Dreamscapes and Honesty: Inside Cactus Moon’s Debut Album

MusicQ&A

Oct 1

INTERVIEW

Some albums are written in a snapshot of time, others feel like entire landscapes you can walk through. For Cactus Moon, their debut record is both a diary of moving cities, late-night jam sessions, and the quiet courage that it takes to reinvent yourself. With jangly guitars steeped in vintage warmth, layered vocal arrangements, and lyrics that touch the line between vulnerability and defiance, this duo crafts a sound that feels timeless yet deeply personal.

The Luna Collective had a chance to talk to Cactus Moon about the emotional push-and-pull behind “Done Wrong,” the cinematic textures of this record, and how collaboration and intuition shaped a body of work that embraces both messiness and the beauty of change.

LUNA: “Done Wrong” has such a vivid emotional arc. Can you tell us the story behind that song?

CHELSEA: In the past, I’ve been guilty of acting out instead of working through things in relationships. I don’t like to follow the rules, and in this case, my misbehavior landed me in the hot seat with a lover at the time. I was apologetic, but they really dragged me through the mud about it, and I refused to grovel and feel ashamed. The song kind of represents a see-saw between wanting to appease your partner and make it right, while also wanting to stand your ground and not submit to unnecessary punishments.

LUNA: Your debut album just dropped. What themes or stories thread the album together as a body of work?

CHELSEA: The album represents a transition in my life, as I moved from Portland to Boise several years ago. Many of the songs were written around that time, but really started to blossom in the last year working with Freeman DeJongh and our other musician friends. They reflect a period of uncertainty for me, missing home but craving adventure, not being totally certain of the path forward but feeling excited about what’s ahead. I also had a few break-ups along the way that made their way into the music. Leaving relationships behind so you can evolve is a part of life, and it’s something I’m ultimately very grateful for. I think the real love story is the road we walk to understanding and accepting ourselves.

LUNA: The production on this album is beautifully textured — jangly guitars and analog warmth. How did you approach the sonic palette for this album?

CHELSEA: Thank you! Freeman DeJongh can speak to this better because he really refined the overall ambience. While I provided the melody and rhythmic chord progression initially, in production, I was very focused on bringing the vocal arrangements to life. I would say vocals are my main instrument, so I’m always thinking of new ways to express myself in that fashion. The melodies really drive the structure of the song, so Freeman DeJongh had free rein to play around in all the blank spaces in between. But Freeman and I both love a more analog, vintage-y sound, so we were already aligned on that at the start of the project.

JAKE: We really didn’t talk too much about the pre-production. We didn’t have too many preconceived ideas about how it should sound - it all happened very organically. For my part, jangly guitars and that sort of analog warmth are definitely core to my style. Some of my favorite music is West Coast country and surf from the '50s and 60’s, hence my really embracing the “Fender” sound. I only play Telecasters and Stratocasters. I use an old silver face Deluxe Reverb from the early 70’s. All of the electric guitar sounds on this album are just that - the sound of a deluxe reverb turned up loud and the spring reverb tank doing that majestic thing that it does, along with my favorite pedal ever, the Tru-Fi tremolo,o and a healthy dose of phaser. For all those sorts of cinematic, atmospheric sounds, I used a Juno-60 synthesizer. I also love 80’s new wave. I love synth pop. I love The Cure, specifically their album Disintegration, with all those droning synths. The synth tones really add that gothic, moody edge to things. When I hear a song, I just listen to it and play what it tells me to play. All of these songs said to me, Dick Dale meets Duane Eddy meets Disintegration meets Neil Young.

LUNA: What was the recording process like? Was it more intimate, or did you take it into a studio setting?

CHELSEA: We laid down the main tracks as a band in Jared Goodpaster’s studio, and after that point, Freeman DeJongh and I started adding more layers from our home studios, which Jared later mixed. We’d work on things in person together or by sending voice memos back and forth. At that point, I was more focused on the vocal arrangements, and Freeman DeJongh was focused on guitar. So we’d trade tracks back and forth until we agreed it hit the balance we were looking for.

JAKE: The two of us had rehearsed on Tuesday nights for a while. We got together with Jacob and Wade a couple of times, too. We recorded all of the rhythm tracks in an afternoon at Jared’s studio. I spent quite a bit of time over the course of the next few months in my home studio, overdubbing, chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole. Although, we recorded basic tracks in the studio in January, in February, I had an accident that badly broke and gashed up my middle finger on my right hand, so playing pedal steel and guitar was super challenging for me for a couple months and that certainly informed how I played on this album - like I used a flat pick for everything because I could only use my thumb and pointer finger on my right hand - which at the time was really difficult for me, although in retrospect it definitely made me come up with a different way to play and I’m really happy with the results.

LUNA: As a duo, how do you two collaborate when it comes to songwriting and arrangement? Is it pretty equal back-and-forth, or do you each bring distinct strengths to the table?

CHELSEA: I wrote a lot of these songs in their most naked form and brought them to Freeman to help me develop. We played them casually for a while at live shows, but when we were ready to record, he started digging in and experimenting more with polishing them. I was very open the whole time to what he was cooking because I love his music and the way he thinks musically. It was pretty effortless from there. He would ask me if I thought the tone was right for certain sections, and I would give my feedback on what I was trying to communicate, tonally speaking. But mostly, I let him do his thing because I loved it all; it was just figuring out the right balance for each song. Meanwhile, I was working with McKenna Esteb and Tessa Ritchey, both great artists in their own right, to do the backup vocals, which I like to refer to as a “coven of doo-wop witches”. There were certain songs I knew I wanted more vocals to help give them a more dream-like feel. But “Time Traveler” is a good example of the fluidity of the process. There’s a section in there that was supposed to be a guitar solo, but Freeman thought it would be cooler to have a talking section with me kind of whispering. So I got in the studio and wrote the part, which we both ended up really liking.

JAKE: Chelsea just played me a bunch of songs, and I’d say like, “Cool, let’s try this, let’s try that, have you ever played this chord?” The best music happens when you are just excited, hanging out with your friends, and exploring curiosity. Neither of us tries to control much, we just go with the flow, like ok, that’s cool, let’s keep going. You can’t control music too much; you just gotta stay open, the rest happens on its own. This is the universe, we just live in it.

LUNA: Do visuals or settings influence your songwriting?

CHELSEA: I think there’s a lot of description in the lyrics that lend themselves well to visual storytelling, but all the visuals were developed after the music, based on the things I see in my head. When I write, it’s much like a movie playing in my mind with the backdrop of the most interesting landscapes that are around me. For example, I wrote “Let Loose the Line” when I lived closer to the ocean. I saw an image of a house being flooded by high tides rushing through narrow channels, just about carrying the house away. So there’s a line in there that says “Rushing river through a channel, filling every room”. In that way, visuals do influence my writing. But the full visual identity for the album didn’t take shape until after the record was done. I took a lot of trips out to the Owyhee Mountains (where we later had photo shoots) to write and contemplate. The Western landscape is hugely influential to both of us, so it made sense to bring in those elements as a backdrop.

LUNA: “Anytime” and “Done Wrong” mark a new era for you. How has your sound or perspective evolved since forming the band?

CHELSEA: The songs have evolved over the last 2 years since we started playing them live. They were probably folkier and more mellow in the beginning than where we are now. The process of making an album is essentially committing over and over again to the overall tone or mood you are trying to accomplish. So, through that process, the songs took on a life of their own and got more brooding, more rowdy, more bitter, more sweet, more exciting than where they started originally.

LUNA: Is there a song on the album that felt special or vulnerable to write?

CHELSEA: “Gamma” is a song about grief and the reality that sometimes love isn’t enough to get you through. I wrote it during the COVID-19 lockdown when I was experiencing loneliness and loss and searching to understand why ‘love’ and suffering are so interconnected. I wanted to go beyond the face value of what we call love, which is sometimes just attachment, ego, and cognitive distortions mixed in with genuine affection. Love is real, love is important, but it’s not all there is. There are a lot of things beyond our understanding, but as humans, we always try to distill them into a simple answer to achieve our own benefit.

LUNA: Now that the album is out in the world, what are you most excited for people to hear or feel from it?

CHELSEA: I hope that the album touches on some emotions and stirs deeper feelings, letting people know it’s okay to feel deeply and to say the things you think you shouldn’t say. I always joke that writing songs is the best way to have the last word, but truly, art is here to facilitate our own growth. So use it to your advantage, whether you make your own art or use someone else’s art. I hope it inspires someone to say or do something they normally wouldn’t have done.

JAKE: I hope people feel the reality in it. I hope it inspires innovation and free thinking, and connection. I hope it is consoling to anyone who feels lonely or afraid. I hope it is a brief relief from the constant anxieties that I know many of us feel living in the here and now - that is what creating it has meant to me.

LUNA: What’s next for the band after this album release? Touring? More Writing?

CHELSEA: More of everything! We’ve been so focused on the album, we haven’t been playing shows, but I want to get back to writing and playing regularly. I would love to do a tour here in the Northwest, maybe next year. Freeman and I both have a whole catalog of ideas that haven’t even seen the light of day yet, so there’s definitely more ahead. Possibly in a more experimental, conceptual direction. Whatever emerges, we’ll be there to catch it.