Ghost Canyon Fest

Under the name MJ Guider, New Orleans-based Melissa Guion constructs spacious, meditative dream pop songs using ticking drum machines, a bass guitar, and mountains of echo and other effects. Her blissful, otherworldly compositions are inspired by her New Orleans surroundings as well as science fiction. Making her full-length debut with the techno-informed ethereal pop of 2016’s Precious Systems, she moved in a more melancholy, darkwave-influenced direction with 2020’s Sour Cherry Bell.

MJ Guider’s first release was Green Plastic, a limited cassette issued by Constellation Tatsu in early 2014. Two years later her debut full-length, Precious Systems, appeared on Kranky, as she expanded MJ Guider into a trio for live performances. After touring with doom metal group Thou in 2018 and performing at the Roadburn Festival in 2019, Guion released her second full-length, Sour Cherry Bell, in 2020. Tracked between her home and rehearsal space, the album explored shoegaze, industrial, and gothic pop influences.