Song-by-Song: ‘Dumb Luck’ by Moon Panda

Moon Panda’s Maddy Myers: “I didn’t realise until writing this how many cat references are in this album!”

Maddy Myers takes us through an album packed with love in all forms, terrifying flights, and an abundance of cats

Californian-Danish dream pop quartet Moon Panda return with their third album, Dumb Luck – a lush, introspective collection that balances the ethereal with the deeply human. Fronted by Maddy Myers and Gustav Moltke, joined by George Godwin and Josh Cabitac, the band have quietly carved a space for themselves in the dream pop landscape, blending woozy basslines, glacial synths, and tender melodies that linger long after the last note. Following 2023’s Sing Spaceship, Sing!, Dumb Luck finds Moon Panda expanding their sound and emotional reach.

Here, bassist/vocalist Myers takes us through the album, reflecting on the stories, sounds, and serendipities that shaped it…

Read the interview when we introduced Moon Panda in 2022

LOST WORLD

What if the relationship with the person you’ve planned your whole life around started to crumble? That’s what Lost World is about. To contemplate having to start over and figure out who you are again. The older and more settled in this life and relationship I get, the more terrifying the idea becomes.

BUTTERKNIFE

Butterknife is a love song for those insecure moments in a relationship. It’s reassuring that the love is still there and there was never any need to question it. It was one of those songs that just kind of happens and is completely written in like 20 minutes. Just felt right. My favourite thing about Butterknife is that the shaker at the end is played by our one-year-old baby – boy’s got pocket!

PENNY

This one has had so many lives! It started kind of Beatles-y and then went real heavy, like Pixies meets Tame Impala, which was so fun to play, but ultimately we chilled it out. I don’t know who Penny is but damn, she’s trouble.

FANTASY

This song was born out of a feeling of wanting to escape. To run away from the life, I had built and find another one. It starts by describing a calico cat that’s leading you down a hall to another world where everything is free and easy. I feel very free performing this song.

SUPERSTORE

“Tell me where your love has gone / What the hell you running from? / My heart’s open, your superstore,” kind of says it all. My heart’s open and full of everything you need. If people are into the drama of it all – Superstore is telling about the micro-moments of wanting to convince your partner of what you can be for them. I told our producer I wanted the chorus to feel like that scene in the movie Challengers, where they’re outside and the trash is blowing everywhere: total chaos and longing. How’d we do?

AVALANCHE

I didn’t realise until writing this how many cat references are in this album! And honestly, I’m more of a dog person. I once knew a cat named Kiki who wouldn’t eat unless you were sitting with her, stroking her back. I’ve always thought about how vulnerable that poor little cat was and how hungry she must have gotten when no one was around. For Avalanche, I name my anxiety Kiki, and she finds me until someone comes and takes my hand and reminds me it’s all going to be alright.

SPACE ELEVATOR

Like three years ago, we were on tour in the UK from Denmark and our plane had to emergency land because of bad weather. The plane was shaking and dropping – completely insane, I thought we were gonna die! But we landed and got put in a hotel in Langham and that elevator button in the beginning of the song is from that hotel. We loved how wonky it was. The song kind of collides with that experience and plays with the idea of being in a waiting room in the clouds. It feels chaotic and wistful and reflective. Kind of like that plane ride.

Moon Panda’s Maddy Mysers: “I think we had five really different versions of some songs. And lyrically, oh the drama.”

AUTOMATIC

I wrote this song right after hearing the new Pearl and the Oysters album and got obsessed with having flutes in a song! It was luckily just a phase, so you won’t hear flutes on the whole album. But ah, another song about anxiety? Well, yeah. This one we really wanted the song to feel somatic. Lyrics like, “Feel my fingers twitch with the energy of the static/moving through my wrists, feel the shift,” really takes me into my body. Then we have this shift into a smooth and spacious chorus before getting back into another hectic verse. It mimics that manic back and forth of anxiety and calm that a lot of us know.

THE LIGHT

I don’t know if any song has ever meant as much to me as this one. The ultimate hook is, “I had no idea how bright – the light,” and it’s about becoming a mother to the most wonderful little hooligan in existence. This song, to me, feels like higher love that sweeps your feet from under you. Obviously, parenthood is hard…but when I hear this song, I only hear the brilliant, blinding, expansive side of parenthood that makes me feel in awe of this world. We got really lucky and found an old Hammond organ for like 80 bucks, and that makes this song feel more organic and timeless for me.

LOVE FLOW

This song feels like the calm older version of yourself that visits from the future and tells you everything turned out great. Its main purpose is to say, “I don’t want to be subtle with my love. I want to let it flow out freely and fully,” but full well knowing that subtly doesn’t mean love holds less value. Sometimes love just means keeping each other in mind.

Dumb Luck is probably the most collaborative album we’ve made as a band. It has little pieces of all of us and feels really special. Like this little mix of all our different characteristics – it’s got my softness and introspection, Gustav’s humour and explosiveness, Josh’s thoughtful precision, and George’s wonky wizardry just blankets over everything. We chiselled away at every detail for a couple years, let them age a little, performed them live and rearranged them until they felt right. I think we had five really different versions of some songs. And lyrically, oh the drama.

Moon Panda’s new album Dumb Luck is out now and you can purchase or listen to the album at orcd.co/dumb_luck

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