We spoke to artist and producer Mo•Louie before the release of her newest electro-pop bop ‘Touch Me’. Mo•Louie possesses an uncanny ability to craft songs that not only create a sonic world but also offer a fully immersive experience. Her previous releases in 2023, such as ‘Signs’ and ‘Hold You,’ have eloquently showcased Mo’s talent for creating thought-provoking, dramatic, and awe-inspiring compositions.
‘Touch Me’ follows a similar path as its predecessors but reaches even greater heights. By seamlessly blending pop, alternative, theater, and electronic influences, Mo•Louie conjures an energetic and powerful atmosphere that envelops listeners, as if being swept onto a sticky, crowded, and passionately charged dance floor.
KALTBLUT: Can you tell us about your latest release ‘Touch Me’ and the inspiration behind it?
Mo•Louie: The idea of the Touch Me came about after I had an awful day, my mental health and emotions were all over the place, but I looked fucking fantastic. I went out that night and just owned the mess I was in, and used the music, alcohol and bodies around me to escape. There is a state of euphoria that music can transport you to, and when I listen to Touch Me, that’s exactly where I go. Dirty Versachi and I wrote this song together and we played with a lot of interesting sounds and samples. It started off with this dirty, noisy, bendy bass that felt like we were in a dirty hot club, so it really just centred around this sound that made us feel transported. There is a lot of ‘play’ in this track, in terms of lyric delivery, sound design and the form of the song which makes it exciting for me to listen to every time. The song was always written with this essence of being transported to an unapologetic, euphoric and freeing place where you can just own your dirty, messy, sexy, strong, chaotic self.
KALTBLUT: How do you approach crafting songs that create a full immersive experience for the listeners?
Mo•Louie: I’m a very visual learner, so when I create things I see them in pictures. So when I’m thinking of a sound I need for a particular part of the song I see these images, pictures or shapes in my head that I use to translate into music. This is why my songs are so immersive because there is a whole picturesque world behind the sounds you hear, it’s like I’m creating a movie made out of sound. I knew from a VERY young age that I wanted to be a creative practitioner, I even think from the age of like 6 I knew. I grew up thriving in environments like fine art, experimental theatre, jazz, drag and mental illness (lol), so all that experience which is ingrained in me sees the light through my music, shows and creative campaigns.
KALTBLUT: How does ‘Touch Me’ compare to your previous releases ‘Signs’ and ‘Hold You’? Can you describe the blend of influences in your music?
Mo•Louie: I love all my babies, but Touch Me I think is my favourite. It’s particularly special because it’s the only one out of the 3 that I did the mix engineering for. I also did the vocal production and I loved the vocal sound that I captured for this track. I wanted the last song of this project to be huge, and I think that’s where the difference lies, although the songs all have a commonality, Touch Me is sonically – production-wise and energy-wise bigger than the other 2.
I’m very influenced by old music and new music and love blending the 2. I grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong and they had this incredible ability to play when they performed, like when Ella would improvise and mimic a trumpet, that just really excited me and influenced me for sure because I always make sure I have that element of play and bizarrity in my music. Later I started really getting into sound design and foley and samples, particularly in electronic pieces. I love the interesting sounds in Charli XCX, SOPHIE and Hiatus Kiayote’s music, so I really started honing in on crafting interesting sounds like foley, samples and synthesizers.
KALTBLUT: What emotions and themes does ‘Touch Me’ explore? How did you capture them in both the song and its visuals?
Mo•Louie: The vision for Touch Me is to show the darker, consensual side of being touched, looking at it more as being in a space of pain and messiness but still being able to experience pleasure physically. So the themes I explored and wanted to recreate sonically and visually were unapologetic, euphoric, free, dirty, messy, sexy, strong, chaotic, give no fucks, anger, and pleasure.
I worked with Moses Carr to create these amazing synth sounds and our aim was to get an emotional reaction to the sound, that’s how we knew it was part of the song. I would continuously say “make it sound more cooked/fucked up” hahaha. I wanted to create this physical sensation in listeners like they were on something, sick, drunk, pissed but still living for the music. Similarly with the press shots I tried to capture these themes with a bold, powerful and messy look, and in the music video, the camera constantly moving and wobbling I felt created this chaotic feeling and with the flashing of red.
KALTBLUT: Could you share some insights into the collaboration with local designer Something Shit and makeup artist Nisal Atapattu for the press shoot and music video of ‘Touch Me’?
Mo•Louie: Oh yes, these artists are exceptional at what they do, and they are so lovely and kind. Nisal is my go-to MUA, he did all the makeup and hair for my 3 single releases this year. We did the photo and video shoot for Signs, Hold You and Touch Me all in one day. Nisal and I had to plan how we were going to order and evolve the 3 looks in a time management sense. Touch Me was the last shoot of the day so we built the makeup look on top of the look for Hold You which was red eye make-up. Building the black over the red-eye makeup worked with the song and the look. For the yellow hair, we made it a wet look, and Nisal did his signature finger wave but a looser version. After seeing artist Lupa J’s visual campaign for their track A New Kind of Magic I knew that I wanted Something Shit’s pieces in the Touch Me campaign. I met the designer Terzann and tried on a bunch of amazing pieces. Terzann was so lovely, excited and passionate, I had so much fun in the fitting, and I wanted to take everything to be honest! I took a lot of pieces for the shoot, but as we were working out the accessories on the day, the gauntlet made the look sing. And the cherry on top was the jewellery from Vintage Garage and The Cobalt Vault (by Dylan Blue).
KALTBLUT: Tell us about the exhibition at Low Key in Northcote that celebrates the release of ‘Touch Me’ and your previous singles. What can attendees expect to see?
Mo•Louie: I’ve decided to do something a little different for my release. As this is the last song of my Creative Victoria grant project I wanted to celebrate the release by having an exhibition and celebration of all the incredible artists involved. Held at Low Key (Northcote), on display will be pieces/works from my singles released this year; Signs (April 23), Hold You (Aug 23) and this single Touch Me. There will be displays of the pieces I wore by incredible designers Jarrod Reid, Something Shit and Vintage Garage, plus pieces from the set, demos of the tracks, BTS videos and clips running on a loop and prints and artwork from the shoot by photographer Bonn Creativ.
KALTBLUT: What does the completion of the Music Works Grant project mean to you? How has it helped in the release of your singles?
Mo•Louie: It means a lot, I wouldn’t have been able to execute this project without the funding of the grant. I’ve been applying for this grant for over 10 years, and when I got it I was overcome with emotion. Not having roadblocks or budget blocks to complete a creative project is extremely freeing for an artist. Artists spend thousands of dollars just to release 1 single, it’s fucking crazy and not sustainable, and not only are they spending thousands of dollars they are also doing their own image/video editing, photoshoots/video shoots, PR, social media videos, social campaigns, which takes the time away from upskilling and working on your craft as an artist. Sure in the beginning it makes sense to invest in your business and experience self-leasing, but what I consider to be seasoned and well-known Aussie artists are still doing this. Crazy. So this grant has been an unbelievable advantage for me because I have the funds and time to execute the songs and visual campaigns the way I want without worrying about budget. The main advantage is releasing music consistently, this has helped grow my profile and has helped me gain new listeners and new opportunities. I can really only afford to release 1 or 2 tracks a year in a similar scale to this release, so that’s been a massive advantage in terms of growth and momentum that I wouldn’t usually get the luxury of having.
KALTBLUT: You mentioned leaving your full-time job to focus on music in 2024. What are your plans for next year, and what inspired you to make this leap?
Mo•Louie: I received a scholarship to travel to Germany for International Songwriters Week at Popakademie where producers/artists and songwriters around the world got into groups and wrote songs for labels, film festivals and artist briefs. Amidst creating the songs I just realised how much I loved this environment and doing it all week was so inspiring and felt like such an accomplishment. It just gave me that nudge to push myself to follow my passion. I’ve been fortunate to get some mixing and production gigs after I finished uni, so I will be spending next year expanding my portfolio but particularly for the first half of the year upskilling, interning, recording bands with mentorship with some killer engineers in the industry and of course Mo•Louie things! :)
KALTBLUT: How do you see your artistic evolution unfolding in the future? What are your goals and aspirations in the music industry?
Mo•Louie: I see myself trusting my gut more and more, challenging myself more and collaborating with as many artists and creative practitioners as possible. I see myself building more and more confidence as a producer and engineer, trying to eradicate imposter syndrome. Most importantly change the culture of a male-dominated industry. Female, trans, non-binary and queer producers offer such a unique perspective on the world, for decades artists who identify as such would have to release music through the lens of a middle-aged straight man.A lot of my friends who are queer, trans, non-binary and female search for a safe space to record and create music in, and from experience, there are a lot of places where you can be taken advantage of. The small handful of male engineers I am friends with however aren’t fogged by ego, who also acknowledge and act on the imbalance and have been wonderful mentors to me. That’s where I see the future heading. I would love to one day own and operate my own studio with the core value being a safe space for LGBTQI+, female and non-binary artists and producers to create. I did a project at uni on major studios owned and operated in Australia, and all the big studios were owned by cis men, I think there was 1 studio that was both owned by a man and a woman jointly. So not one female owns a major studio in Australia. Insane! I went to one of the biggest studios in Australia and they don’t even have sanitary bins in their toilets! I found that really insane. So I would love to one day be the first major female studio owner in Australia, with an inclusive space for all types of humans.
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@mo.louie
Photos by @bonncreativ
MUA & Hair @nisal.mua
Wearing @_somethingsht_
