What is your name?”
I am MOULE (pronounced “MOOL”), and the name is a combo of two meanings: the first is an alternate spelling of “MULE”, a hybrid animal said to be stubborn, and the second is that it’s the first word that comes alphabetically after “MOULD”. This is because my music is both stubbornly hybrid since I just can’t fit into one mould and view myself as being outside of them. The reason “MOULE” is in all caps is just because I find it cooler that way. It’s not to be confused with the French word for mussel!
What is your genre of music?”
Multi-genre electronic! I don’t usually care for genres that much, but I’ve made everything from drum and bass, different house, techno and trance subgenres, all the different “waves” (chillwave, synthwave, vaporwave…) and “cores” (happy hardcore, speedcore, breakcore, flashcore, splittercore…), industrial, ambient, a genre I made up called “power electro”, gabber, industrial, breakbeat, to even extratone – an extreme EDM genre where music is 1000 BPM or faster. Sometimes I fuse genres and just develop what I started with in the direction I best think it should go in.
Give us a little bio about you.
My love for electronic music began in around 2009 when I discovered acid techno and trance mixes on YouTube, followed by me shortly discovering deadmau5 and progressive house music. I wanted to make similar-sounding music, but didn’t know how to or where to begin at the time. In 2012, I began using the “Groovemaker” series of iPad apps and used loops to make short music, then moved on to GarageBand for iPad in 2013, but they are lost at this time. In 2014, I got a MacBook Air to use GarageBand for Mac and am entirely self-taught, experimenting with different sound styles for years. My first complete track was “Panthalassa”, made back in July 2015. Since then, I’ve made hundreds of tracks, that I played snippets to just to people I know, but at the time was too anxious to share the full tracks online. Also in 2015, I got into graphic design and began using Assembly, a graphic design app for iOS, and have used it for making almost all my cover artworks, and developing my own style of cute cartoon animals, each with their own names and backstories, starkly contrasted with apocalyptic themes. In 2020, I finally overcame my fear of sharing my music, and began uploading to Bandcamp and networking with indie musicians on Twitter, then expanded to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and more places. During this time, I got the confidence to release more cartoony cover artworks for my music, which was and is the direction I’ve always wanted to go in, and now I’m finally releasing my first album this year!
What made you go into music?
I was always musical, I just never knew where to begin to start with. It was through persistent experimentation in GarageBand in different styles over the years where I felt more confident and have an improved sound to my music, which encouraged me to continue making even more music in even more styles. For example, last year I managed to finish my first uplifting trance track “Passion”, and the year before I finished my first happy hardcore track “Ecstatica”, which are personally big achievements for me, since happy hardcore and uplifting trance music are among my favourite electronic genres and I’m so happy I finally figured out how to make them. Another reason why I got into music is because I view myself as very imaginative, and have always wanted to make music soundtracking the various worlds and characters in my head. Furthermore, I’ve also continued to make music to inspire other musicians, who may also be like how I once was in being nervous to share their music, to share it and find their audience. I also do it to challenge musical elitism and stigmas against DIY music. The way I see it, music (and art in general) should break all forms of gatekeeping, and everyone should be encouraged to try many styles without fear.
Who are your influences?
I have had several influences on my music, among them they are deadmau5 (my biggest influence), Owl City, David Guetta, R.E.M., Daft Punk, Basshunter, Aly & Fila, Dougal & Gammer, Karma Fields, Empire One, DJ Gollum, DJ Hixxy, D-Noiser, SynthR, Lil Texas, i_o (RIP), Avicii (RIP), ZHU, Calvin Harris, ATTLAS, REID, Fehrplay, Nom De Strip, Mr. Weebl, video game soundtrack artists (especially from the Sonic the Hedgehog games), the many indie artists I’ve discovered since 2020, and many others. I’m also influenced by concepts I find interesting, as well as history, inventions, mythology, animals, life and world events…whatever comes to mind, really. As for my visual artwork influences, I have many influences there too, such as Happy Tree Friends (the biggest one), Dumb Ways to Die, Super Animal Royale, old Flash games, Pete Fowler’s cover artworks he designed for Super Furry Animals, Joe Havasy’s art, and many others.
Are you signed?
I am not signed (unless being signed to a distributor counts) and have no intention of being so. I have never had a team and have always found joy in being unsigned and going it solo. I hate the idea of having my art and creative process “managed” by others!
You’re set to release your new album ‘Enjoy the Ride’, tell us more about the album.
Enjoy the Ride is a digital-only, 22-track multigenre electronic album, including 15 of my favourite and most popular tracks, and introducing 7 new ones.
It’s out on Friday, July 22, 2022, and you may pre-save it here: distrokid.com/hyperfollow/moule/enjoy-the-ride-3. On that day, this page will have links to all services you can stream it on!
What is the meaning behind the album?
I’ve determined the phrase “enjoy the ride” was my life motto in late 2020, so I chose it to be my first album name (and the name of its first track) since it showcases both how I view my music as a fast-paced, ever-changing rollercoaster of styles, and with everything going on in the world now, it’s also a reminder to take things easy and try to enjoy things as best as we can. I feel that for my first album, it’s my best expression of who I am as a musician and visual artist, uniting my favourite styles of music with my favourite cute-animals-smiling-through-the-apocalypse vibe.| It also highlights a type of music I’m calling “power electro”, which is electro with power metal influences. I just love fast-paced, upbeat rave music!
What was the writing and recording process like?
All my tracks – including the ones in Enjoy the Ride – were created in GarageBand for macOS ever since I started using it back in 2015. In a way, this album was also made to reject the stigma of GarageBand being a “beginner’s DAW”, and that you can still make great-sounding music with it if you know how to use what you have to its fullest potential. I always knew I was going to release an album sometime in the 2020s, but didn’t formally plan and finalise the tracks until weeks before February 6, 2022, when I distributed it. As for the time it took to record the tracks, they were created as far back as Halloween 2016 to finished as recent as January 15, 2022.
Describe each track in two words.”
Ooh, this will be fun:
01. Enjoy the Ride: “Happy apocalypse!”
02. Waterslide: “Aquatic antics!”
03. Coronathletics: “Pandemic heroes!”
04. Leaper: “February afterparty!”
05. Superhero: “Defiant bravery!”
06. Passion: “Uplifting motivation!”
07. Unlimited Data: “Y2K Eurodance!”
08. Here For It: “Carpe diem!”
09. Sequoia: “Swift, carefree”
10. California Grizzly: “Skateboarder chipwave!”
11. Purple: “Hypnotic synthscape!”
12. VICE: “Aggressive synthwave!”
13. Visionaria: “Virtual reality!”
14. Not Mussel: Self-explanatory.
15. Sonar: “Deep, intense”
16. Black Swan: “Mysterious, majestic”
17. Space Race: “Space quokkas!!”
18. Smashing Boxes: “Cheery chiptune!”
19. Citadel: “Gamer glitchhop!”
20. Halcyon: “Glitchy nostalgia!”
21. Norilsk: “Mercilessly cold”
22. Aquatic: “Fresh dive!”
Describing them all in only two words was challenging but quite fun.
Who did you work with on the album?
As with all my music and artworks, Enjoy the Ride was made entirely on my own after years of trial and error. I’ve always preferred going solo and never thought to collaborate with others for this album, especially since Enjoy the Ride is also about showcasing the best of who I am as an artist.
Will we see a music video for any of the songs or have ideas for the future and if so what can we expect from the creative process?
Enjoy the Ride currently doesn’t have any music videos, though there are promo videos I animated for the album itself and most of its tracks on my YouTube channel. I absolutely do have ideas for animated music videos featuring my cover arts’ characters in the future though! Though I will admit I don’t have a lot of experience with animation software, especially for longer animations, so the creative process will be (and has been) a learning curve, but the quality will increase as I practise more!
Do you have any live shows or a tour coming up and if so let us know where we can catch you at?
I do not have any live tours planned at the moment and I’m not sure if there will ever be any. “MOULE” is an entirely online music project, but I have been thinking about doing virtual shows with an animated avatar, but I still have a lot to learn with animation and to be honest the idea of live performances is quite daunting!
What else can we expect in 2022?
I’m planning to release a least 4 (maybe 5?) new tracks after the album which will over time give more insight into the chaotic worlds shown in the cover arts and the characters in them, soundtracking my imagination one track at a time. I’ve already got ideas planned for two more albums and I can’t wait to share them when they come around!
Will we see any collaborations and if so, can you tell us more about them?
I have no collaborations planned at this time, but I might change my mind about it in the future.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 years?
If you were to ask me that back in 2017, I’d probably say I’d still be too shy to release my music! A lot can happen in 5 years, and it was a slow journey from making music, to finally starting to share them, to embracing the more cartoony aesthetic I’m going for. In 5 years, I wish to continue to gain confidence and see myself creating even more diverse styles of music for the MOULE project, with even more tracks, more albums, more animal characters, more worlds, more stories, and possibly more mediums and immersive ways of interacting with my art. I see myself as an imaginative storyteller and like to let ideas play out over time, so I feel uniting that with a music and art project I am passionate about sounds like the next step forward!
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
The very title of this album: “Enjoy the ride.” Enjoy all the fine things in life, take each day as it comes, and when things get tough, hold on tight, stay the course, and try to enjoy it as best as you can.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Yes! I’m on twitter.com/MOULEOFFICIAL (my main platform), youtube.com/c/MOULEOFFICIAL, and all links listed on on linktr.ee/MOULE.
Thank you so much for the opportunity for this fantastic interview
MOTF: Our Pleasure!! Thank you for chatting.
