B-Side Guys

Near-death experiences often leave survivors grappling with fundamental questions about purpose and meaning. For Toronto’s Adam Platek, whose cycling accident in January 2025 became the catalyst for his MISSING PET project, the answer arrived through music that treats survival as spiritual awakening. Moon Rules, recorded in just two days with producer Josh Korody at Wychwood Sound, transforms personal trauma into five tracks that explore resilience, vulnerability, and the cyclical nature of healing.

The EP’s 14-minute runtime feels both intimate and expansive, suggesting an artist who understands that profound experiences don’t require extended elaboration to achieve lasting impact. Platek’s fusion of indie rock with synthpop and electronic textures creates sonic landscape that mirrors his thematic preoccupations—sounds that feel both earthbound and cosmic, personal yet mysteriously otherworldly.

“Broad Daylight” opens the collection by establishing its central metaphor of illumination revealing truth. The track’s exploration of seeing someone clearly for the first time provides perfect introduction to an EP about perception shifts following traumatic experience. Platek’s vocals carry conviction without overselling the revelation, while the production creates space that allows both vulnerability and strength to coexist. The song’s repetitive structure suggests how genuine insight often requires multiple exposures before full comprehension occurs.

“Secret Admirer” demonstrates the EP’s sophisticated approach to emotional complexity, examining obsession and unrequited attraction with uncomfortable honesty. The track’s narrator acknowledges his own pathetic behavior while remaining trapped within it, creating psychological portrait that avoids both self-pity and false heroism. The production’s electronic elements enhance rather than distract from the confessional content, while the vocal arrangement supports the song’s exploration of social media-age romance and its attendant anxieties.

“Bitey” represents the collection’s most sexually charged moment, using physical aggression as metaphor for emotional intensity. The track’s playful approach to desire and dominance creates space for exploring how vulnerability can coexist with power, while the repeated question “Will you take me if I’m bitey?” suggests fear that authentic expression might prove unacceptable. The song’s electronic textures create appropriate atmosphere for content that moves between tenderness and ferocity.

“Floodgates” continues the EP’s exploration of intensity and revelation, using water imagery to examine emotional overwhelm and sexual tension. The track’s repetitive structure mirrors its thematic content—the way desire can become obsessive cycle that resists easy resolution. Platek’s vocal performance here demonstrates remarkable control, maintaining urgency without sacrificing musical sophistication. The production creates sonic representation of the flooding metaphor without becoming literal or heavy-handed.

The EP concludes with “Over It,” a track that provides appropriate closure for the collection’s exploration of survival and transformation. The song’s narrator describes experiencing metaphorical death and choosing to continue living, creating perfect thematic bookend for an EP that began with illumination and revelation. The track’s references to awakening and not having nightmares suggest genuine healing rather than false optimism, while the final celebration of survival feels earned rather than automatic.

What makes Moon Rules particularly compelling is how it treats the near-death experience as beginning rather than conclusion of artistic exploration. Rather than presenting trauma as source of easy wisdom, Platek uses his accident as launching point for examining ongoing questions about identity, desire, and human connection. This approach prevents the EP from becoming simple recovery narrative while honoring the genuine transformation that informed its creation.

The recording process—completed in just two days—serves the material’s immediacy and intensity. Rather than polishing away spontaneity, Korody’s production maintains raw energy while ensuring each track achieves maximum emotional impact. The collaborative approach, featuring contributions from Dan Miller, Rob Platek, Michael Novalski, and Korody himself, creates musical conversation that enhances rather than complicates Platek’s vision.

The EP’s lunar metaphor provides sophisticated framework for understanding both personal and artistic development. Like moon phases, human experience involves cycles of visibility and absence, wholeness and fragmentation. This perspective allows Platek to examine his own transformation without claiming permanent enlightenment or final resolution.

The indie rock and synthpop fusion creates sonic palette that serves the material’s emotional range without overwhelming it. Electronic elements provide atmospheric enhancement while traditional rock instrumentation maintains grounding that prevents the music from drifting into pure abstraction. This balance reflects the EP’s broader approach to balancing cosmic themes with human-scale concerns.

Moon Rules succeeds because it understands that effective art about survival must acknowledge ongoing struggle rather than presenting trauma as simply overcome. Platek has created work that honors both the darkness that preceded his accident and the illumination that followed, suggesting that genuine healing involves integration rather than replacement of difficult experiences.

Most importantly, the EP demonstrates how personal crisis can enhance rather than diminish artistic expression, creating music that speaks to universal experiences of transformation while maintaining specific emotional authenticity. In treating his near-death experience as artistic opportunity rather than limitation, Platek has crafted collection that feels both deeply personal and broadly resonant.