By Olivia McAuley
You ever just think to yourself: “Man I could really go for a moody minimalistic instrumental electro track right now that makes me feel like the protagonist in a high budget zombie video game?” Well, I do, and the fittingly named “Ghost Town” by Tampa based artist Dune might just be the thing.
From the simplicity of the track’s hook to the catchy, slowed down 2004 prodigy style beat, the cinematic effect is uncanny. The scratchy samples met with live instrumentation conjures barren imagery; a sensory illusion of wandering a post-apocalyptic world à la World War Z. A basic hollowed-out guitar riff circles ominously through the track, creating a strange but effective momentum in a style distinct to the up-and-coming trip-hop/downtempo artist’s discography.
Dune is the moniker of Juan Espinosa who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Miami, FL where his sonic scapes were informed by a mixture of world music, the Miami electronic music scene of the early 2000s, and bands such as Massive Attack and Hybrid amongst others. “Ghost town” appears as the eleventh track on his most recently released collection of atmospheric and cinematic soundscapes entitled Momentous, which also happens to be the first release on Juan’s label ‘Mekanick’, launched earlier this year. Check out the artist, his latest projects now available for streaming on SoundCloud, and download on Bandcamp!