Kyle Mooney, the former SNL cast member and more recent Y2K director, has always been a music guy — just click around our tag archive for proof. As of today, he's officially a recording artist too. Under the name Kyle M, Mooney has surprise-released his debut album The Real Me through the underground-rap-centric Stones Throw label.
Despite that affiliation, The Real Me is not a Lonely Island-type rap parody. The irony at work here is much drier and several echelons more intense. The album is a bunch of lo-fi genre exercises in which Mooney delivers his knowingly goofy lyrics in a sort of atonal talk-singing. "Kid On The Range" is a depressive country ballad, "Digital Society" is electro-pop, "Blue Car" is Beach Boys-y surf rock, "Gwendolyn Bartley" is a parodic rewrite of "Eleanor Rigby," and so on. It sounds pointedly amateurish in a way that's more charming than irritating (but is definitely a little bit irritating).
A press release bills The Real Me as Mooney's pivot into a music career, leaving acting behind forever. There's also a three-minute mini-doc in which Mooney visits his childhood home and explains that music was his first true love. "I don't want to be a clown anymore," he laments. He also assures us, "I promise, there is nothing comedic about the Kyle M project." It is indeed not funny!
You can hear the album and watch the mini-doc below.
The Real Me is out now on Stones Throw. The first 100 vinyl orders come with a signed 8x10 photo.
