Perth Lewis - Cherry Moon EP

Sydneysider Perth Lewis (real name Luke Fugar) is one of the global Balearic scene’s genuine rising stars – a producer whose often bedroom-made beats and soundscapes have caught the ear of the Balearic Network, San Francisco’s Dream Chimney label (who issued 2025 full-length Jetty Summer), Blank & Jones (who have thus far snapped-up two of his tracks for the Michibar compilation series) and NuNorthern Soul founder Phil Cooper.

The Ibiza-based DJ fell in love with Fugar’s self-released albums Moments In Time and Distance Between, reissuing them on NuNorthern Soul in a bid to raise the producer’s profile worldwide. Now Cooper is ready to share the Australian’s first fresh work for the label, a predictably impressive four-track EP entitled Cherry Moon.

It’s naturally reflective of Fugar’s work to date, which draws inspiration from legendary DIY music-makers of the 1970s and 80s while focusing more on mood, tone and texture than production polish or high-end trickery. He tends to utilise a relatively small number of dusty drum machines and synthesisers, as well as his beloved electric guitar. The results are rarely less than magical.

To kick-start the Cherry Moon EP, Fugar eases us in gently via ‘Sunset Jam’, where undulating, Tangerine Dream style synth motifs, atmospheric field recordings, echo-laden melodies, immersive chords and drifting vocal snippets recline a slow-motion, effects-laden and head-nodding groove.

The Australian’s love of delay and reverb-laden beats and dub-wise basslines comes to the fore on ‘Monolith’, a typically tactile and evocative affair peppered with twinkling piano motifs, deeply spacey pads, sun-baked Rhodes licks and sparkling, sun-bright electronics. It’s immediately followed by ‘Basis of Reality’, a slightly more propulsive and upbeat affair in which marimba-style synth motifs, bubbly bass and morning-fresh lead lines rise above a punchy, electro-influenced beat.

Drawing proceedings to a close is title track ‘Cherry Moon’, where skittish drum machine breakbeats and jazzy bass come cloaked in kaleidoscopic, maximalist pads, melancholic motifs, simmering synth-strings and bittersweet, mid-80s style melodies. It’s a gorgeous and enveloping end to a genuinely stunning EP.