We all become marooned from time to time, sometimes by choice and sometimes by accident. LA’s artemis orion gives a life raft to those of us who have been stranded and lost with her stirring new song, “marooned on the moon.”
Stream: “marooned on the moon” – artemis orion
The pandemic has changed us all. We are not the same people who closed our doors in March 2020 and retreated into our four walls, compared with the people who re-entered the world a year later. Today artemis orion, known for creating exquisite dark bedroom pop with elements of lo-fi hip-hop, gives us “marooned on the moon,” a way to examine this change that has happened within each and every one of us.
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “marooned on the moon,” artemis orion’s first single of 2022 (out April 29th, 2022 via Aurora Vibes/Kurate Music). Orion is a one-woman machine who writes, performs, produces, mixes and masters all her own music. In late 2020, orion released her self-made EP honey, which was a much-needed balm to counteract the chaos of that year.
Born in LA but having spent time living in Mississippi and Nashville, Orion’s stage name, like her music, is an amalgamation of influences and a co-existence of opposing ideas. It’s a combination of two characters in Greek Mythology: Artemis, the Virgin Goddess, and Orion, a mighty huntsman. In the myth, Artemis and Orion become companions in spite of their differences but like all Greek myths, it ends in tragedy when Artemis is lied to by Apollo and kills Orion. In mourning, and as a tribute to the friendship they once shared, Artemis places Orion’s body among the stars as a constellation we all still see to this day.
Ooh, marooned on the moon
Ooh, marooned on the moon
“Marooned on the moon” is a sonic meditation on what forced isolation does to us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
We are taught that we can control all aspects of our lives so when this control is snatched from us without discussion or consent, we fight, we scream, we resist, but once we realize that all the fighting in the world won’t alter our circumstances, where do we go?
Orion gives us a map.
Fill the sky with melodies I’ve never known
Fly up high until I’m soaring on my own
Bliss and blue with rocketships and radios
Morning dew, the greenest grass that ever grows
Orion says that “marooned on the moon” preceded her 2020 EP honey, and that it was one of many songs slated for an EP / album concept called quarantine dreams. “I finished that concept before writing all of honey, but I felt that I wasn’t ready for it to be released. Whether or not these songs will all be released is TBD.”
She goes onto say that “the inspiration came from a song I wrote when I was fifteen called ‘Rocketships and Radios,’ which is where the first verse derived from. After I had made up chords for “marooned on the moon”, I browsed through poems and old songs I had written and came across ‘Rocketships and Radios.’ Originally, the lyrics were just to paint a happy and thriving scene to contrast this chorus that was so dark. For ‘marooned on the moon,’ the lyrics developed a second level of meaning – solitude, realization, transformation, regeneration. The new chorus line tied the whole thing to how I felt during quarantine. I felt like I was sitting on something high in the sky looking down at the world, my life, where I had been, what I’ve done, and how I felt about it all. There was no daily life to distract me, so I was just confronted with my own thoughts and self.”
The song opens with orion’s vocals coming through the crackles like a radio signal coming from a far-off place. One could interpret “marooned on the moon” as being a song of passivity, a term often used in a pejorative way, but the song feels more neutral. Orion communicates a feeling of untethered-ness; of release and letting go, and allowing oneself to observe and question rather than grieve answers not given.
“The lyrics came out of nowhere, honestly. It’s one of those songs that I wrote by imagination: playing scenes in my mind like a movie and describing the imagery,” Orion explains.
Constellations in your mind
Galaxies of every kind
Tied to no fashion of time
Sad to see them slowly die
Listening to “marooned on the moon,” it becomes clear that it isn’t just about finding a path back to yourself, but about discovering a new self in the isolation.
This often means shedding parts of your old self that no longer fit:
All this time you’ve been so tough
Countless times you’ve had it rough
Color blind, the feeling’s numb
Are you scared to fall in love?
“To me, the first verse describes how I feel about change being an opportunity,” orion shares. “The second verse describes the world of minds: how we think, dream, imagine and the fear of that dying as we get older. It will always be a timepiece representing how I felt in a certain time, or certain things I think about when I’m in a state of change or self-reflection.”
Listen to artemis orion’s “marooned on the moon” exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
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Stream: “marooned on the moon” – artemis orion
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