Keep in Touch, M. Vaughan’s new EP is low-key indie electronic music – it feels relaxed and ephemeral, though it has stuck with me since I first heard it about a week ago. M. Vaughan hasn’t put out videos or visualizers for the new music, but check it out, it’s an irresistible sound:

M. Vaughan is an American-born music producer who moved to Lisbon last year after a short stint in Berlin. Here he is from the press materials:

Strangely, after moving to Berlin I just didn’t care about club music anymore. I found myself listening to Mark Kozelek or Alex G or The Microphones and there was something about it that felt uncool and American —I loved that. I started writing songs and playing guitar again, and decided to stop DJing to focus on this one-man-band project.

It’s full of samples and breakbeats, set against some guitars and keyboards. The vocals have a serene and layered quality that matches the backing track. Even the lyrics are wistful and nostalgic: for childhood (“Tire Swing”, above), or for the beach (“Nazaré”, a resort town in Portugal). It’s a nostalgic sound that’s well-suited to a lazy summer afternoon, a soothing mix of analogue instruments and familiar drum loops. It’s not unlike the recent release from Clothesline From Hell.

Here’s “Nazaré”, mentioned above. It’s super downtempo, using the Funky Drummer beat and a gentle guitar over a hypnotic synth bed to create a soulful, organic sound:

I hadn’t heard of M. Vaughan before, but his back catalog is full of gems too. This is the first release that isn’t primarily EDM, though the vibe isn’t a huge departure from a couple of previous releases – more an evolution than a reinvention. His previous EP Home Movies from 2021 has the same chilled atmosphere as this release, but a much less organic sound, with much more sampling and less human-controlled synths and guitar. Here’s a music video, a flashback to pandemic isolation days:

True Life, the full-length from the same year, is very breakbeat-forward but has no vocal tracks on any of the songs, resulting in something like a more upbeat, instrumental version of the new release. It’s a little more electronic, hints of drum and bass, and a more upbeat overall mood. Here’s “Softly”, one of my favourite tracks from that release:

It’s always interesting to discover an artist with a substantial and appealing library of work. After listening to a lot of his output from the past, the evolution on this new release is a great refocusing of his sound.

---