Lunar Paths Join Forces with VAUI To Build An Edgy and Synth Riddled Atmosphere
- BuzzSlayers
- 45 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Lunar Paths team up with VAUI to deliver a unique and vast soundscape complete with loads of edgy overtones, spacious underbellies, and an electronic push that feels colorful but alternative at the same time.
This, to me, was a brilliant combination because Lunar Paths is already a driving band that experiments with indie and electronic, rock, and more, so bringing VAUI into the mix, adding all kinds of additional synthesizers and keys, let the song come through in a massively lush manner.
This track absolutely holds on tightly to pop sensibilities even though it is experimental, outside the box, and free-thinking.
The track features loads of those juicy, fat synthesizers, as well as ones that are cutting, along with an addictive beat and vocals that are sort of laced throughout the song, riddled with a sort of distortion or decimated feel.
This adds to the whole alternative edginess the sound gives off, but this is an example of a track that sort of reinvents the wheel in its own way.
It's electronic music that involves a lot of indie-pop, and gives you layers of tone and texture to chew on throughout its entire course.
On top of that, you have this almost dark feel that looks just beneath the surface, reminiscent of elements of post-punk in its aesthetic and feel.
There's something a little bit haunting or eerie about this track, and I like it.
The percussion across this single is absolutely outstanding and doesn't just add drive but adds a particular kind of liveliness to it all. There are overlapping drums on top of the beats' steadiness that fill any kind of space and add a bit of extra energy to everything.
There's nothing about the percussion that just sits firmly in the pocket. It creates a deep-rooted kind of groove. It's danceable, it's fun, and again it's pop-oriented, but it's also avant-garde. Nothing about it sits still.
That's the way the entire song is. Some of it feels a little bit scattered, but I like how it all fits together like puzzle pieces somehow.
Throughout the track, you have all kinds of instrumentation that are dipped in reverb effect, giving a little bit of depth to the soundscape, building on that sort of cinematic vastness I mentioned earlier, but again, it all fits together incredibly well in the end.
There's something multidimensional about it all. It sort of takes you on this wild and almost rambunctious musical journey that feels a little bit intense in certain ways, but also unique and fun, addictive and infectious.
All the layers and changes, keys and synthesizers really take the cake here. There are always ever-changing sounds and tones coming through the song, so it ends in a different place than it starts, which is really cool, because it feels progressive, alive, and breathing.
I love a track that is based in pop, riddled with synth, and unafraid to branch out.
This is an example of a release that is put together and created with far fewer boundaries than whatever you may be used to, but I feel like that's part of what the future of music is all about.
The song bends and mends genres freely, and it's part of the fun.
The experimental side of things comes not just from the synths and the Beats, but how the vocals are performed and affected. There are all kinds of amazing production trickery going on that adds both a polish and a futuristic electronic glitchiness to everything that puts forth this sonic presence that is undeniable.
There are parts of the song where I hear a theremin. At least I think it is a theremin, but it could also be a synth with a theremin sound on it. Either way, it works magic because it helps add this sort of quirky, colorful aspect but at the same time builds on that haunt.
It definitely is a song that blends the color and the pop with the edginess in the dark damn near perfectly. It's all completely seamless; it has an amazing forward-moving flow and feels like a combination of '90s post-punk influences with bands like Oingo Boingo.
You can hear a slew of those influences as the song plays out.
This was a little different, super fun, and gives you a lot to soak in while delivering mass pop overcoat and that songwriting approach that is a little familiar in sound, but a little different in texture.
So, take a deep dive into this one, put on some headphones, and jam out because it's really worth it.
The song is called "W.T.B.", and it just released.
After listening to the track, I would like to sit down with Lunar Paths to find out how it all came together, how they ended up collaborating with VAUI, and more.
So, while you jam out to this track, have a read through of our interview below.
Most importantly, remember where you heard it first.
Hey and welcome! Thanks for taking some time with us! Let’s kick things off with “WTB”! This track had a bit of a classic pop aesthetic!
Thanks for the interest that you have shown in our work! I'm Diane, and I produce and engineer the Lunar Paths songs, make the videos and sing. It's a surprise to hear WTB described as 'classic pop', as we've never been called that before. We tend to get identified as postpunk and darkwave, goth, even. Possibly the closest we ever came to being labelled as pop was when we released a track that was compared to Blondie. We occasionally branch out into electronic music, and this is an example of that aspect of our work.
Where did the song come from and what is it about? and This track features VAUI, how did that come about?
These questions are best answered together. In late 2025, the Colombian artist known as VAUI reached out to us on Instagram and asked us if we'd like to collaborate. We're always up for an interesting collaboration, so we agreed. Early in 2026, he sent us some synth recordings, and I started to layer and loop them, to see where they took me. Kevin sent some massive, rumbling, toms-heavy percussion, one set in half time and the other in double time, and these perfectly complemented VAUI’s drum tracks, rhythmically and tonally. He also pointed me in the direction of a new sample library, where I came across lots of fabulous vintage shortwave radio broadcasts and bursts of static to chop up and add to the mix. I especially liked a spy radio broadcast that used the NATO phonetic alphabet, and the words ‘whiskey’, ‘tango’ and ‘bravo’ sounded particularly strong, so these began to feature frequently in the emerging track. I had a basic feel of what I wanted for a vocal—a combination of heavily treated, almost-sung spoken word, and soaring soprano bridges—but as yet I had no idea about lyrics. Then, one day, while fiddling about in the mix, I thought “hmmmm, I had better Google ‘WTB’ (from the ‘whiskey’, ‘tango’, ‘bravo’ motif), just in case it’s a bit of racist shorthand or anything similarly horrific!” I discovered that it stood for ‘want to buy’, and then BOOM! Just like that, the theme of the song was there, and, a few hours later, I had written the lyrics. The finished song explores the modern scourge of ‘fast fashion’, which turned out to be a perfect choice, because, spookily, it transpires that, before he sent the synth through to us for the collaboration, VAUI had felt that his new synth lines would lead to a song that was something to do with the fashion industry. Clearly, this collaboration was written in the stars!
I am hearing some different styles here. Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Oh, gosh. Too many and too diverse to list! For me, I think my love of bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Underworld, Avalanches and X-Ray Spex shines through on this one.
Did you guys work with an outside producer on this, or was it all you?
If you mean the stitching together of the various elements, the mixing and the mastering, it's quite literally all me. Kevin creates some wonderful drones, synthy hooks, and, of course, he creates all the fabulous percussion that Lunar Paths are known for, though, on this track, VAUI also contributed some electronic drums. I gather together what Kevin sends me and start assembling it into a song, usually adding things like samples, bits of MIDI or synth. At this point, Kevin and I never have the slightest idea of which direction a song will take us as it develops, so I just trust my process and follow the song wherever it leads. All the way through the process, from start to finish, every single day, I'm sending the day's work through to Kevin, whose feedback always unlocks something buried deep in my creative matrix.We have a huge amount of trust in each other's approaches to the work, and a really intuitive and uncannily sympathetic feel for what needs doing. One of us does something, or suggests something, and then we just run with it. We've never had a day's argument over anything. Our ethos is 'let's try it and see what happens'. We're both curious and open minded creatures, and it's a really enjoyable way -- TBH, the only way -- of working creatively as part of a team.
Are you performing live right now?
Ahhh, I wish! We came close last year. We had around a dozen gigs lined up in the Illinois/Michigan/Indiana region, and I was going to get on a plane (I live in the UK and in Greece, and Kevin is in Chicago; I travel light, with a mic, a laptop and a few portable hard drives, whereas he has a carload of percussive gear). My plan was to go rehearse with Kevin for a few weeks, then we'd go on tour as Lunar Paths. Then, Trump got elected, the cost of performers' work visas skyrocketed, with zero guarantees of being allowed across the border and even a distinct possibility of being 'disappeared' to some faraway prison if the border guards didn't like the cut of your jib, so all bets were off. We will definitely play live some day, however. It's the dream, and we will make it happen, because we are determined to make it happen.
Now that this is out, what's next for you guys?
Kevin and I have a couple of new songs in the pipeline. We've had a year and a half of collaborations, and I've done a couple of remixes for other people, and though we've loved every minute of working with partners beyond Lunar Paths, we're really looking forward to settling back down, just the two of us, and letting the chemistry between us get to work.
How did all of this start for you as a band?
Wow. Long story short: in the early eighties, Kevin and I worked together in the north of England in a postpunk band, before 'goth' was even a thing. After a couple of successful years of this, Kevin joined Skeletal Family, I went off into theatre and academia, decades flew by, and then, one day, Kevin stumbled across me on social media. He asked if I fancied rerecording some of the old singles, and I said I'd much rather try writing something new with him. We discovered that, over the years, we had retained this intuitive feel for each other's creative approaches. We had also each independently assembled a remarkably similar collection of music that we liked, all the more remarkable for it being pretty eclectic, and this eclecticism really shows itself in the music we create. Every song is different, hard to pigeonhole into any particular genre, but unmistakably 'us'.
What would you say people can expect from this release?
Avant garde techno, with something to say about the pleasures and perils of 'fast fashion'.
Before we go, what would you like to express to listeners?
Expect the unexpected, embrace things that are unfamiliar, and stay curious and open to whatever life throws at you.
Comments