Matthew Iwanusa goes into things all the way.His love of the New York Knicks, the basketball team he obsesses over, or the memories of his youth, as shown in his previous project Caveman. The multi-artist has always loved synths—but he wanted to move away from that as a driving force this time around. His work on RIP Dunes kicked off right before the pandemic, sparked in part by the purchase of a 12-string guitar. A growing love of a new instrument paired with an inability to leave the house opened up a new avenue into songwriting for him.

Fresh off four dates opening for The Walkmen at the Metro in Chicago, today Iwanusa shares RIP Dunes debut single, “In Real Life” along with an accompanying music video. The track immediately reels the listener in with a euphoric, swirling sonic collage of synths, guitar and 80s drums. RIP Dunes will play in Brooklyn, NY at Sleepwalk on July 28th.

“”In Real Life” is about coming to terms with reality in a situation and realizing it’s time for a change,” says Iwanusa, who cites Echo and the Bunnymen, The Church, and The Cure as influences on his new songs. “I like the dark elements of that music,” he says.

Music-making and New York living have always been the fabric of Iwanusa’s life. His father’s a jazz composer, his mother a longtime music teacher in the New York City public school system. He got his first Mickey Mouse drum set at the age of three, and started singing in the Metropolitan Opera’s Children’s Chorus at the age of six. So it wasn’t long before he started writing songs of his own. After a series of bands, things kicked into a new gear when he formed Caveman in 2010 with a few old friends. The band toured the world alongside The War on Drugs, Weezer, Jeff Tweedy, Built to Spill, Ra Ra Riot, Frightened Rabbit, and Phosphorescent.

Iwanusa 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.

Oreder In Real Life by RIP Dunes HERE