Dotsun Moon’s ‘Tiger’ album is an unmissable treat for lovers of 90s influenced sounds. Released in June 2025 and coming a full nine years after the previous full length Dotsun release, you could never accuse multi-instrumentalist Richard Fliel of hurrying his work, but you can hear the love that went into this long overdue second album from the moment you hit the play button. Taking in influences as disparate as Harold Budd, mid 80s Wire, ‘Disintegration’ era Cure and applying a liberal amount of his own style, Richard created a work that often felt familiar, but deep enough to feel like something that would ultimately grow beyond its (admittedly great) musical touchstones.
In an extra piece of promotion, the ‘Moments In The Sun’ EP brings together a couple of the album’s best tracks, along with a slow burner and something unreleased, to create a primer that will work brilliantly for those who missed ‘Tiger’ upon release and might be approaching the Dotsun Moon universe for the first time.
The title cut makes great use of a ringing guitar sound calling back to 90s goth, which set against an uptempo rhythm creates one of the most positive sounding tunes within the Dotsun Moon catalogue. A musical love letter to the pre-grunge days of 1989/90, it has a huge, nostalgic heart, and the way Fliel applies a slightly lax vocal against such a breezy melody creates a brilliant contrast. His decision to let his vocal take a little more of a back seat compared to a few of the other Dotsun tunes allows some great musical elements to shine: there’s a bright sounding synth cutting through a busy bassline, but perhaps more importantly, a soaring guitar occasionally lifts an already superb melody to new heights. For the first time listener, this should be incredibly accessible. In retro indie rock terms, it has all the makings of an instant classic.
‘Army of Me’ offers something a lot darker, but equally appealing, allowing more of a ‘Disintegration’ era Cure sound to take centre stage, along with light influence from The National. As you might expect, Flierl appears just as musically adept when approaching this slightly more introspective sound. A slightly crooned vocal sounds superb set against a flowing piano, whilst arcs of guitar flesh out a great melody. More about mood than immediacy, this is a track that sounds better over time, and one that fans of Keeley (and her self-proclaimed) “Keeley Sound” should check out. With an atmospheric lead guitar break introducing an even more haunting melody, there’s a lot of greatness packed into this track. ‘Winter Street’ clings on to the soundtrack-like piano to share a strong descending melody, whilst a marriage of dream pop guitar and deep bass work together to create something rather maudlin, yet different to ‘Army of Me’. With extra echo applied to the vocal and a drum sound that belies the DIY approach favoured by the performer, there are moments of this number that feel a little more demo-like. That never makes it feel in any way cheap, however: a strong lead guitar fusing shoegaze tones and prog-ish moods is powerful enough to sell a superb melody, and a subtle piano filling the bulk of the track moves on from its original melody to create something with a touch of the late Rick Wright at its heart.
Making its debut, ‘Piano Trailer 5’ pays tribute to Harold Budd & Brian Eno’s beautiful works together. More positive sounding than the ‘Tiger’ album’s ‘Piano Trailer 4’, this short instrumental captures Richard alone, working an ascending and descending melody, creating something that allows the notes to flow incredibly naturally. During the moments when the brighter sounds are left to cascade, the simplicity is utterly beautiful, and even when the main melody is cast aside briefly in favour of a few slightly gloomy notes – again, tapping into the performer’s obvious love of film scores – the arrangement shares a fragility that contrasts some of Dotsun Moon’s darker cuts very effectively.
Of these EP recordings, Richard says “[These are] not for the casual listener.” In this case, he’s referring to those who’d rather approach music as a casual backdrop, rather than those who might be approaching Dotsun Moon for the first time. He also says people should “listen to these songs at least two or three times and let them sink in. [They] take a slower pace to help the lyrics resonate.”
He’s not wrong. ‘Tiger’ is a great album, but its more reflective tracks have a knack for catching up with the listener long after its more indie centric tunes have made an impact. Isolating a couple of the record’s more downbeat affairs and re-presenting them here as a partially different, stand-alone work seems to amplify that. That said, if ‘Moments In The Sun’ happens to be your introduction into the world of Dotsun Moon, you’re still in for a fine listen. Probably even one that turns out to be far greater than you’d expect.
October 2025