When something captures Matthew Iwanusa’s attention, he tends to dive in all the way—whether it’s the city he grew up in (New York), the basketball team he obsesses over (The Knicks), or the indelible images of his youth. The songwriter grew up in Brooklyn, but every summer his family would make the 10-hour drive to a getaway home on Lake Michigan. And for someone whose music has always felt a bit nostalgic, it only makes sense that a new project would be named in honor of the dunes that loomed over his childhood. Music-making and New York living have always been the fabric of Iwanusa’s life, and after a series of bands, things kicked into a new gear when he formed Caveman in 2010. The band toured the world alongside artists like The War on Drugs, Weezer, Jeff Tweedy, Ra Ra Riot, and more.

As evidenced by his work in Caveman, Iwanusa has always loved synths—but he wanted to move away from that as a driving force this time around. With a full album scheduled for March of ’24, RIP Dunes paints a lush sonic landscape and senses of euphoria, accompanied by pangs foreboding mystery and darkness that ring out the album’s sentiment—what does it mean? Who am I? Is it real?