For nearly a quarter century, a musician laid dormant in the recesses of the mind and body of Alex Deep. Spinning records in Venezuela, and then surrendering to familial expectations of higher ed in Boston, the musician remained buried beneath the surface. Although, dreams are powerful guides possessing the wisdom of 100 philosophy books in a single second of R.E.M. And when the mythical wizard Merlin, reflected in the ocean by the pale moon’s light, summons you to manifest your passions in an un-ending series of dreams, it doesn’t take magic to know where your destiny lies. And so from the depths of despair, the musician Merlinmoon a.k.a. Alex Deep...rose.

Alex always expected to be an artist, but his family had different plans. The 24 year-old began his musical career in Venezuela as a DJ, discovering and sharing music like the preeminent currency. On the rise in the underground music scene, Deep would curtail his upward trajectory to honor a family tradition of earning a college degree – so he traded South America to studying at Boston University.

Alex crammed four years of school into three, enrolling in summer school courses to graduate a year early. Against the wishes of his family and friends, namely his mother and girlfriend, Alex refused to abandon music entirely, taking piano lessons and practicing up to four hours each night. In his darkest moments, as the pressures from his family got the best of him and he contemplated selling his equipment and giving up, surreal visions began to beckon from his sleep. The wizard Merlin became his trusty nocturnal guide, appearing cast in the glow of the moon’s light. In nights of desperation Merlin returned, waving his wand in the direction of his greatest passion—a piano at the edge of the sand where the surf breaks. Years later, Alex would assume the moniker Merlinmoon to honor these dreams.

When one of his close friends died in a tragic motorcycle accident during his penultimate year of college, Alex realized there are no certainties in life and it can all end without a moment’s notice. Angered and confused at the loss of youth, Alex channeled his overwhelming grief into crafting music and a philosophy book that he was writing for school. Upon reading the first draft of the tome, his professor instructed him to travel around the world to gain perspective and revisit the work when he returned.

Prior to embarking on this journey toward self discovery, Alex completed the demo songs he had written. Attributing the tracks to his alias Merlinmoon, Alex fled Boston for the world at large. Spending months at a time in Mexico City, Miami, New York and Rome, he continued to work on his philosophy book when he got a call from a producer in Boston who heard his demo songs and wanted to enter the studio to refine the tracks.

Merlinmoon finished his first EP Poppy Fields in Boston and soon moved to Los Angeles to work on his full-length debut with producer Ronan Chris Murphy. The result is the unabashedly epic, Stoned By Dreams, which mines the stars for inspiration and the grand design of life for truths. The music is psychedelic-electro-rock to be performed in arenas for fans that listen to albums through headphones. The opus of the album, “Days of Rage Into the Light” clocks in at nearly 20 minutes and is layered deeply with sounds reminiscent of Pink Floyd that are sobered by Merlinmoon’s philosophy, before an upbeat coda returns the song to a celebratory climax. One can picture Merlinmoon as a whirling dervish onstage, entrancing the audience to follow his path. Other songs, like “If I Could Be the Wind”, “Fall Into Place”, and “Under Next Year’s Sun” deal with love and loss in a more straightforward song structure. The themes may be familiar to fans of classic rock, but the direction that Merlinmoon takes the songs is more cerebral. He wants you to listen to the philosophy in his lyrics as well as the guitar solos and lush instrumentation that round out the music, which is always recorded in analog on vintage gear to capture the magic of ’70s rock.

“This record has a great equilibrium between my philosophy and my life,” says Merlinmoon. “I know what I want to listen to in a record, and I don’t want the record to be talking about the same thing because it would be like a day without a night, a flat rollercoaster without excitement. Given that I listen to ’70s rock and electronic music, I learned to appreciate concept albums and realized that my message both in music and philosophy could be presented as one piece of art. I named the record Stoned By Dreams because that is how I live life; it’s about living everyday to the fullest – following your dreams. Dreams are the closest connection to our own consciousness, being able to live that dream of fantasy. My hope for this album is that it gives people the courage to wake up and start living.”

In addition to his concept album, Merlinmoon has already written songs for a tribute album to the friend he lost, and the soundtrack to a film he is writing.

Merlinmoon confesses, “I have a disease where I can’t stop writing.” The purpose for this outpouring of work is simple – he hopes to free the chains in people’s minds and at this pace, it’s just a question of time.

The Band

Bradley Greenberg has been playing the drums for nearly half his life, or 11 years to be more precise. While studying contemporary writing and production at the Berklee College of Music alongside Payvand and Chris, Bradley first met Alex Deep in a recording studio in Boston. Later on, the two would be reacquainted by Alex’s childhood friend from Venezuela, when he was putting together the seeds that would sprout to form Merlinmoon.

Payvand Salehi has been playing the bass guitar for eight years. A graduate from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Payvand met Alex Deep through a mutual friend in Boston, who happens to be one of Alex’s childhood friends from Venezuela. Finding they shared musical sensibilities, it seemed a natural path for Payvand to join Merlinmoon.

For three years, guitarist Michael Wise studied classical piano and guitar as a child, though found the practice limiting and opted to learn music by ear. A graduate of USC, he went on to study sound engineering at a Los Angeles recording school. In High School, Michael played in a band with fellow Merlinmooners Bradley and Payvand.