Moon Worm was born out of necessity. Jack Schaefer grew up on a farm in rural North Dakota, loving indie rock but having no one to share his passions with. As a result, being “able to do it myself was kind of a necessity,” Schaefer admits, so he writes, records, and mixes all of Moon Worm’s music himself. The project is, in that way, clearly rooted in one man’s singular vision. Now based in Minneapolis, his latest work is the “Midnight Audio” EP – with the self-titled lead song as the focus track, available now across all the usual reputable streaming platforms.

Moon Worm’s most recent singles, the uber summery falsetto of “These Games”; the ‘indie rock song filtered through zero-gravity space’ a.k.a. “Dopamine” and the glorious twinkling synths of “Meet Me There,” stand on the shoulders of the 2021 Moon Worm LP "Odyssey". Recorded in the attic of a North Dakota farmhouse, “Odyssey” is aptly titled, a journey through post-punk synth washes and bursts of dream pop lucidity; Schaefer wrote the record, he says, after getting “exposed to the music of Tame Impala, Beach House, M83, and Mac Demarco during my college years,” and those influences shine through on his debut LP, a space-age fantasy from a 2020s vantage point. But it is his newest work that really underscores how much Schaefer has come into his own.

Indeed, the “Midnight Audio” EP demonstrates a burst of artistic growth as well as a more personal pursuit for deeper thematical meaning, as Schaefer says: “Themes surrounding love, uncertainty, and regret clash with a side of me that knows it’s best to just let things fall into place on their own. I am proud of these songs and hope that others can relate and hold onto the feeling I cast into the world.” To illustrate: the track “Dopamine” is a fatalistic life lesson; in life the things that are most difficult are the most rewarding and maybe even in ways you don’t realize at the time. “These Games” details the uncertainties of a new love affair, whilst “Meet Me There” is a happier tune about the journey involved in a meeting of people and minds and the strange and sometimes unknown directions this may take you.

Title track “Midnight Audio” is an intensely introspective and ethereal electronic dreamscape where he evaluates the past, present and future and the very limits of our humanity. Schaefer insists it is a “...song about regret and wondering if the choices I made in my life are the right ones. A slow realization that we’re only on this earth for a short amount of time and if you let these feelings control you then you can never truly appreciate those around you and the experiences you’ve had.” Given our collective shared human experiences these last few years, this sentiment resonates powerfully.

In case you were wondering, Schaefer originally chose the name Moon Worm after the worm moon, the first full moon of the springtime, “a sign of new beginnings.” Moon Worm, by the sounds of it, is only just getting started.

"MIDNIGHT AUDIO" EP TRACK LISTING:
1] Midnight Audio
2] Dopamine
3] These Games
4] Meet Me There