Changing the Scene: LAPSE OF JUDGMENT
Juniper ‘June’ Mooney never felt okay with her place in the world. And she made that clear with her first song released in the summer of 2025, THIS MOUTH OF MINE. Coming to the music scene with a mishmash of talents weaved together into a techno spoken word masterclass that allowed her to amass millions of fans and dollars, the first big entertainment act following World War III.
Born on March 15th, 2008, June Mooney was always though of as a gifted child, always drawing or writing in her cheap dollar-store notebooks, packed to the brim with unseen stories and dark creatures of the fairy variety. She was known to wear “church dresses” as her everyday attire, usually fastened with silk bows at the collar and hum hymns and songs that no one recognized. On Sundays, she was taught the beauty of music by the Southside Church of God’s choir master, Wanda Iverton. By age five, she was playing Beethoven on the piano at the town library, wowing adults with her adeptness. In her one-thousand person town of Durken, Iowa, there were three careers most went after: bankers in bigger cities like Des Moines or Cedar Rapids, working in the nursing-home complex, or starting a gimmick store on Main Street. None of these futures applied to Mooney.
She wanted to be a music pop star from a young age, inspired by Madonna, Lauryn Hill, and the Supremes. In her released diary pages (available on her website/personal blog), at age seven Mooney was planning a concert with a setlist of thirty songs, a massive beachside stage, and thousands of adoring fans on the sand with their hands raised. Her attention to detail continued into her teenaged years, where the hunger for artistic expression exploded. The Durken High School Talent Show of 2023 was her first big shot. And she blew it.
Her sophomore year act included a piano cover of Kelly Clarkson’s Since You’ve Been Gone with an extravagant light show and a fan blowing different colored leaves to represent the passage of time. Fifteen and armed with an electronic piano loaned out to her by Ms. Iverton the choir master, Mooney planned for a dramatic recital of the classic pop hit. Unfortunately, her hands got sweaty and the keys stuck during the twinkling opening. Then she stuttered through the second verse— cutting off at the “‘til I called you mine.” Bad start.
Her light technician assistant for the show doubled as the leaf-dropper. And was, according to Mooney’s diary, a “part-time boyfriend and full-time blockhead”. He forgot to plug in the fan and tripped over the loose cord, sending the box of multi-seasoned leaves into the crowd of giggling high schoolers. She got a minute into the song, giving up and leaving the stage before she finished the first chorus.
Her dream to stardom ended as well…
FROM MOONEY’S DIARY, summer of 2023, in the form of ‘thoughtform’ lyrics:
“So, she stopped taking lessons with Ms. Iverton. Stopped going to church. Argued with her parents just to hear some fight in her voice. She still wrote music, sometimes. Dumped that idiot with good teeth and awesome hair. People pretended like they weren’t looking at her the rest of the year and making jokes. This mouth of mine.”
…
Her grandfather, Alexander Mooney was a music composer with a short-lived stint in Hollywood, producing background music for the early 2000’s revival of the Twilight Zone television show. When he died on Christmas 2024, he had not seen his family in five years, living alone in New Mexico as his prostate cancer diagnosis progressed. In his will, he left all of his audio equipment to June, a granddaughter he had only met twice. Paid for in advance, the Prophet 5 synthesizer and its accessories were flown from Carlsbad to the Mooney House. And June’s life changed forever.
(2025)
Year of the HIT SINGLE-
Naming the music project LAPSE OF JUDGEMENT and primarily using her grandfather’s Prophet 5 synthesizer, she brought to life an original song from her ninth grade diary, THIS MOUTH OF MINE. Produced in between the sweaters and forgotten church dresses of her closet in just two days, each element of the song was created inside the synthesizer, including her vocals. The result was an eerie, breezy teenaged angst song where Mooney writes a semi-autobiographical narrative that has the protagonist’s peers and family all dislike her (or at least she thinks they do) for speaking her mind. She feels unable to communicate with others without causing a conversational disaster, even to people who appear interested in her.
With a catchy chorus and strange spoken-word rhythm, the song was released anonymously to the biggest social media apps in February and within a week, her first single turned into a sleeper hit. This jolt of acceptance turned the shy but centered artist into a figure of mystery almost instantly. Mooney began planning.
(2026)
Year of the MYTH-
After releasing three more singles over the course of her senior year, still anonymous but gaining hundreds of followers every day, Mooney worked with her ex-boyfriend to launch a social media ARG (Alternate Reality Game), in which fans would uncover hidden codes, weird sigils and coordinates, promising a grand reveal at the end of the summer. Planning the debut of her first album had been a meticulous process, ten songs constructed as being digital “campfire storytelling” with a heavy focus on rising from crumbling ideals of modern religion, the subject of the death of loved ones, and small-town living.
In the months leading to the debut of her album ‘MYTH’, Mooney had been working at the Stallion Movie Theater to make money for the social media campaigns. Her reputation had repaired since the Talent Show of 2023 and according to her diary, she even contemplated abandoning the entire project:
“Some self-sabotaging bastard inside me wants to quit the entire thing. What if everyone really starts to hate you?
What if this is just one step too far? Life has actually improved since mouth of mine and I could be a manager at the Stallion before next year. Mom and Dad are glad I have a job. Something that keeps me from staring at my music all day. But what do they know?
Anyway… that’s the demon that’s currently perched on my shoulder. I need a back scratcher or a fire poker or something…”
Three days after being released on the LAPSE OF JUDGEMENT social media pages, MYTH was bought by Los Angeles-based Inyagrace Records for $2.5 million dollars. On August 5th, 2026, Mooney had signed a three-year deal with Inyagrace for an additional $5 million.
Mooney began work on the second album the following day.
…
The tracklist for ‘MYTH’ follows:
1. GOOD GODS GO
2. UNWOUND
3. AGAINST THE GRAIN
4. BOOK LOVE (remastered)
5. DEAD GIRL WALKING
6. ALL
7. CHRISTIAN SISTER
8. NEWSSTAND
9. EPILOGUE
10. THE GOODBYE (instrumental)
11. THIS MOUTH OF MINE (remastered)
June Mooney, promotional art for the GOOD GODS, GO music video