Kevin Bronson on July 2nd, 2021

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Working under the name Karaboudjan (a ship in “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin”), Billy Kim makes expansive, propulsive psych-rock — songs that sound like the climactic moments of a festival, if said festival was in 2011 and if you had skipped the headliner to see something far more interesting on a second stage.

Kim — a touring member of Tycho’s band since 2016 — is now putting the wraps on the first Karaboudjan solo EP, “Imago,” five tracks of lush, outsized and mostly danceable rock with washes of guitar and synth and vocals soaring in on the breezes of hazy nostalgia.

It’s immersive work from an Orange County-reared artist who cut his teeth as a member of the promising but ultimately ill-fated quintet the Steelwells, who, back in the day, recorded with noted producer Jacquire King and toured with Foster the People and Grouplove. Kim followed that with the project Milo Bloom.

His Karaboudjan music arrives on the artier side, connecting his past and present. His second single “Let Go” has its origins in 2013. “I knew I wanted the lyrics to contrast the light and laid-back dance vibe the music has,” he says. “I also knew I wanted the song to be about losing my dad, and the vulnerability that ensues. Lyrically, I finished the entire song in an instant, all but the chorus. And that is how that song stayed until I rehashed it for this EP.

“It was an interesting experience to write a song in two different stages of life for me. But it sort of feels like it was supposed to happen in the way that it did. It was also a bit comical as I had to just ‘let go’ of how the old part sounded. Acceptance in two very different forms.”

In that context, “I’ll Be Just Fine” sounds like a dreamy mantra.

When the first single “Seems Like” dropped in March, Karaboudjan drew immediate comparisons to Tame Impala. You’ll hear that and more when “Imago” is released in September.

||| Stream: “I’ll Be Just Fine,” “Let Go” and “Seems Like”