Man on the Moon
as peformed by DM Stith
“DM Stith whispers with hypnotic, bone-deep authenticity, somewhere between Nina Simone, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey and Leonard Cohen.”
—Michael Stipe
DM Stith’s interpretation of R.E.M’s Man on the Moon shines like a collapsing star on the event horizon. Produced by Thomas Bartlett (Florence + the Machine, St. Vincent, Glen Hansard), the track reimagines R.E.M’s tribute to comedian Andy Kaufman as mantra.
The single has generated buzz ahead of its release on October 14th, including from R.E.M. lyricist and vocalist Michael Stipe who says, “DM Stith whispers with hypnotic, bone-deep authenticity, somewhere between Nina Simone, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey, and Leonard Cohen”.
Stith and Bartlett have been friends and worked on music together for years, but Man on the Moon is their first collaboration to be released to the public. Says Stith, “I made this with Thomas Bartlett the day after hearing R.E.M.’s original over the speakers at a Whole Foods. We were grabbing some things for dinner after a session, and it was like I could hear this whole new take on the song right there in the checkout line. I leaned in and whispered what I was thinking to Thomas, he laughed, and then we made the thing. Extra lyrics were written on the spot, and the specificity of the lyrics to that song really resonated in me in those hours – it was like opening an encyclopedia and finding a page about oneself there, describing to you the details of your inner life. So it’s a remarkable song in that sense to me.”
Stith’s debut single with label Historical Fiction marks a stunning return after 2016’s critically acclaimed Pigeonheart. With upcoming shows in the UK and US and two new studio albums in the works, Stith’s bold interpretation of R.E.M’s classic is an exciting teaser for what’s to come.
Press Inquiries: zack (at) bighassle (dot) com
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Biography
A singer-songwriter and visual artist currently living in upstate NY, Stith has explored his expressive vocal range on a variety of projects including two solo albums (Heavy Ghost and Pigeonheart), a full album collaboration with John Mark Lapham of The Earlies (The Revival Hour’s Scorpio Little Devil), two orchestral song cycles with NYC based composers Sarah Kirkland Snider (Unremembered) and Judd Greenstein (My City), and a slew of collaborations with Son Lux, My Brightest Diamond, Anna B Savage, and Sufjan Stevens. DM is currently scoring a feature full-length documentary by director Frederic Tcheng (Dior and I).
As a visual artist, Stith follows the same roaming interior curiosity through pencil, ink and watercolor, forming maps of an intriguing austere topography. His work has been featured on grammy award winning albums by Roomful of Teeth, the pulitzer prize winning Partita for Voices by Caroline Shaw, as well as albums by Tyshawn Sorey, Nadine Shah, Mary Halvorson, Glenn Kotche, So Percussion, JFDR, and the Aizuri Quartet. As a designer, Stith’s hands have been involved in many exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
‘Heavy Ghost, Stith’s debut, is nothing short of a masterpiece of mood and texture, an album that sounds as if it was devised in equal parts by a seasoned composer and an inspired amateur.’
•AV Club
‘There’s a time between sleeping and waking that’s occupied by DM Stith – weaving our sleep with hypnotic spells, wild chorals, plucked strings and primitive keys.’
•NME
‘Stith creates musical friction in a way that’s brilliantly compelling… shimmering with impressionistic beauty.’
•The Guardian
